The 400th Hunger Games All girls Quarter Quell
by FoxfaceAnimeLover
Summary: Mockingjay is in the only all girls class of District 11. Her whole class is going into the Hunger Games with girls classes from Districts 3, 6, 8, and 9. Making it the largest Hunger Games yet. There will be more bloodshed then ever before.
1. Chapter 1 to 3

Chapter 1

I should have known it would be my class. I should have known, should have known! As soon as they announced the 400th hunger games quarter quell, I should have known that I was my class that would be in the reaping. We were the only all girls class in District 11. There were a lot of us, but since this was a quarter quell the usually rules didn't matter anymore. An all girls class from every district was going to be chosen. Somehow that saved more than half the distrcits because they didn't have those kinds of classes, pretty much disqualifying them from this year.

So that left Districts 3, 6, 8, 9, and 11 in the games this year. My problem? I was part of the only all girls class in District 11. Which meant my friends and I would be thrown into the arena to die. I didn't even need the reaping to prove that to me. That didn't mean I could skip it today though, unless I wanted to get hauled off somewhere and probably become an Avox.

One thing that was clear to me though, was that I wasn't coming home today. I teared up a little. Also... All my friends... We were going to have to kill each other. We also knew each other and that gave each of us an advantage. It's good I never really mixed in with those girls, They barely knew anything about me and that might be the one thing that saves me...

"Mock! You up? The reaping is going to happen in about an hour! Hurry up!" My boyfriend, Daeken, shouted from behind my door.

Mock was my nickname. My real name was Mockingjay. My parents loved the bird and the beautiful sound of it's voice. So they named me after it. Daeken had shortened it to Mock, which I liked. Try going around at school while everyone is shouting Mockingjay. You stand out more than you'd like.

"Yeah I'm getting up! Just wait. I'll be, like, fifteen minutes," I answered.

Daeken wasn't thinking about me being in the hunger games. All he thought, was that if I got in it, which I would, then I would win and come home. He didn't even think about my situation being frightening. He would have been more scared if the career districts had qualified for this years games. None of them did, which was lucky. That gave the other girls classes from the qualifying districts a more fair chance. Careers had practiced all their lives just to walk up and volunteer for the glory of it. They were all killing machines.

With them gone, all of us had to worry about other problems. One good thing, though. I hadn't let any of the girls know about my skills. I could throw knives as easily as I could walk. After seeing so many hunger games on tv, I knew a lot of tricks that others seemed to not pick up.

I put the games out of my mind while I got dressed. I wore my mothers dark blue and black dress with lace flowers. It was the most expensive thing we owned. This was the first year that I fit it. After getting into it, I put on my cheap masscara, and pulled part of my hair from each side back and pinned it there. After making sure I looked alright, I put on my matching blue flats. When I stepped back to look in the mirror, I almost cried.

I looked almost exactly like my mother. I had her redish blonde hair and blue eyes... We looked a lot alike. More than my sister and her had. She had died after my older sister, Yuri, didn't make it through her hunger games. Only because her ally stabbed her in her sleep. Her ally was a tiny little boy from District 5. Yuri felt sorry for the kid and took him in to see if she could protect him as long as she could. The boy ended up being a backstabber. He did the same thing to another person. The first night, he murdered them without a second thought. In the end, the boy from District 5 ended up winning the games that year.

My mother became ill soon after and died from an "uncurable" illness. I believe it all was grief, but noone could be certain because mother wouldn't talk anymore. I didn't like bringing it up. Everytime it brought tears to my eyes. So I walked out to where Daeken was.

He looked peaceful, but his eyes showed something different. He might as well have just cried with me. Then we'd be fine... But instead we were going to pretend that I wasn't going into an arena that I didn't even know what it was, and fight to the death with other people. Most of which I knew...

"Happy hunger games," he teased.

The next thing I knew he jumped onto my lap.

"Tell me a story?" Daeken said in a childs voice.

"How about a song instead?" I asked.

He nodded. Daeken always wanted to hear me sing. I was always being told by him that my name fit my voice.

So I sang a song that I had heard since I was younger. It was called _The Hanging Tree_. It was spooky, but it was a song that relaxed my somehow. I guess my mind found the song rebellious and asking the person you love to free themselves, because for you... It was too late.

Daeken listened to the entire song, then kissed me. I sang that song a lot to him, he never minded it. I think he found it peaceful as well. Especially for today. I saw some tears go down his cheeks before he wiped them away and grabbed my hand.

"Come on. We should get moving. The reaping is in fifteen minutes."

We hurried to the town square. We checked in and walked up to our places. Daeken sat in the seventeen year olds section. I sat with the other fifteen year olds. We just waited for our escourt to come. All my class mates were around me. We all looked indifferent, while everyone else was relaxed and happy.

Our escourt finally showed up. She seemed in a hurry.

"Let's see who our girls are!" She exclaimed in her annoying capitol accent.

She opened a list. Being as we were the only girls class, there was no real reaping needed this time.

"District 11! Your tributes are:

"Janice Keeters, Aroura Vanzan, Natalia Lokline, Karria Hechers, Mockingjay Hamren, Raven Pokersen, Vitanya Mells, Strawberry Lewis, Rose Liane, Maybelina Rossetta, Tulip Jackle, Rulia Dannic, Lillith Meran, Honeyseed Tooler, Tallia Kellen, and Mallium Hertant!"

Everyone cheered, mostly because it wasn't them this year. All sixteen of us were between fourteen and seventeen. Janice Keeters, in the fourteen section was the first down to the sage, followed by the only other fourteen year old, Mallium.

Janice wasn't much to look at. She has wavy blonde hair and was quite chubby. Also her face was too fat and her cheeks weirdly clung to her cheekbones. The wasn't really anything good looking about her. Even her personality was horrible. Noone liked her. I had a feeling that she was going to be one the big Cornucopia deaths. Even I didn't like her and I was very accepting of people.

On the other hand, you had Mallium. She had chocolate skin, dark brown hair, and looked like she was thriteen instead of fourteen turning fifteen. She was sweet even though she had a speech issue. Everyone loved her, so I think she might live for a few days before another district tribute finds her.

We all got up there. All sixteen of us. We wern't intimidating, except Raven, Natalia, and Vitanya. I tried to put on a scary face, but I felt I was only making people laugh at me. Mallium, Janice, Strawberry, and a few others were all crying. I wanted to, but decided against it as a way to get sponcers later on.

The Peacekeepers all gathered us into the Justice Building. All of us only had about three minutes with each of our vistiors. I knew that my father, Daeken, and maybe a friend or two would come to say goodbye. My first visitor was none other than Daeken.

He had tears streaming down his eyes. "Hey. I'm going to miss you."

I flung myself into his arms. "I'm going to miss you too... I won't come back so I want you to know that I love you so much and I always will!"

"You are going to come home. You know it and so do I."

I nodded. "I'm going to try, but I can't garentee that I will. I have to try. For Yuri and for my mother... And you. I can't leave you like this. I will try and... And... And..."

"And you will win, Mockingjay."

I smiled and kissed him.

"Listen, you know how to hunt. I taught you that. When you're out there, you know better than to run into the full fight during the Cornucopia. Just get something and get out, like the smart tributes do. Also get your hands on a weapon. You're best with knives, but you can probably handle a spear as well. At night, until there are less tributes, don't start any fires. If you get cold, huddle up and bear it for the night. Mock, you can do this. Just try. For me, your mother, and Yuri."

Then a Peacekeeper came in and told him his time was up. Next was my father. He looked sad, but like he was trying to stay strong. We sat there in silence...

"I hope you come home. I'll be all alone if you don't... With Yuri and your mother also... Being dead... I won't have anyone."

"Dad, please be strong for me. I will try my hardest to come home. But if I don't come home, you better not go out the way mom did. That was too hard to bare. I know Yuri wouldn't have wanted her to have done that, but it's too late now. Promise me you will stay strong?"

He nodded. A Peacekeeper came and got him soon after that. There was noone else for me. I had to wait for the others to finish. Soon they all did and we were loaded onto a train. It took the rest of the day to get to the Capitol.

The sixteen of us were taken into our new home for the next week. Since the eleventh story wasn't big enough for sixteen tributes, some of us had to use the main room as a bedroom. Our escourt introduced us to our mentor, Helen. She looked frail, but maybe that's how she won the gamse. Being sneaky and using her looks to her advantage.

"Welcome. This place isn't much, but hey... Our district has the second biggest chance of winning this year. Districts 3 and 4 have ten girls each. District 9 only has five. But District 8 has seventeen. Most of them look less than frightening, but there's got to be a fighter amongst them, and those odds are pretty low compared to what we though they would be. Sadly the career districts didn't have any girls classes at their school, proving to be an advantage for all the girls here today," She explained.

I listened closely. Rulia and Karria looked bored. They never paid much attention to anything. That would be their downfall in the games. Janice was paying attention, but I think that was only because she knew she was one of the biggest targets out there.

After Helen was done talking to us, we watched a recap on all the districts. I noted that the girls in 3 and 6 looked like a mix between fear and confusion. None had really expected to be on that stage. Almost all of them were crying. I paid attention to the names though. The ten girls in 3 were Zaphanee, Impellia, Twill, Carienne, Fritani, Bielle, Nemeah, Willow, Spall, and Yandra. In 6, Scarlet, Alyssa, Dragon, Vasalissa, Marie, Metalliana, Hallien, Rekiana, Blodalia, Ana, and Midnight.

District 8 had seventeen girls as tributes. Ever, Combellimum, Lacey, Penelope, Alieana, Saphara, Xandria, Ulli, Frances, Janhem, Brenda, Amalia, Haylie, Aryna, Cellia, Dhalia, and Forria. They all looked surprised yet at the same time ready. These girls were going to be a problem. Maybe their teachers had gotten news of the quarter quell early, and had trained their girls. That would make them the careers for this hunger games. Which would also make them the toughest and most murderous girls we had to fight against.

District 9 was almost sad. Sollia, Hydary, Beth, Bianca, and Idealli were the only girls they had in the hunger games this year. Their chances of winning were so small, they were probably thinking about killing themselves as we were watching this. All those girls looked fearful and timid. Except Sollia. Her black hair and eyes made her look angry and ready to kill a person the first chance they get.

Our district reaping was pretty much the same as the others, except we looked more... Intimidating somehow. We went from best friends to vicious looking girls in seconds. I guess that's what these games do to you. Either way we all looked like we were ready for anything almost. Maybe that could help us get sponcers.

Chapter 2

After the chariot rides, we all got out of the crazy costumes and relaxed in our place. We all seemed to feel awkward around each other now. Since we were going to have to kill each other, it was weird to be friends at the moment.

Raven spoke first once Janice left. "I think we all know that Janice is going to be our first district casualty... Just to get it out there."

There were nods and murmers of agreement. I could imagine how many of us would go after her the second the gong rang. Mallium stayed silent, though. I guess she felt a little closer to Janice being they were the same age. Strawberry was the closest person to Janice, but even she agreed that Janice would die first. It was almost sad.

"I don't think Janice will be the first. Maybe second or third, but not the first..." Mallium said in her tiny voice.

"Well that's sweet Mallium, but I think most of the people here are going to try to kill her," I said.

"Call me Malli, Mockingjay. While we're here, we might as well be called what we want to be called... Before it's all over."

"Then call me Mock. Not Mockingjay. If you call me Mock, I'll call you Malli," I explained.

"Then call me Honey instead of Honeyseed. I never liked my name, it could be better. It makes me sound more like my brother. We don't even look alike!" Honey exclaimed.

She was always complaining in a funny way about something. A lot of people called her Honey, though. Even our teacher. For some reason most our class didn't feel the need to call her anything other than Honeyseed. Same thing with Strawberry. Most people, outside out class, called her Berry. And it was also the same way with Lillith. The only difference was that we actually called her Lil. So we all decided we'd at least call each other by our nicknames until we all died in the hunger games.

Janice walked back in and we got silent again. So we decided to be friendly like we always did before. Even though we were being thrown into an arena together, we were still friends until then. That left me talking to Berry and Malli. Janice was talking with Aroura, who we also knew was going to die the first day because she annoyed everyone with her poking. Then she got mad whenever you did it back to her. Made all of us extreamly mad. Even Janice and that was saying something.

I already knew Raven, Natalia, and Vitanya would make it pretty far in these games. They were very tough and I knew their skill, which they had a lot of. Then there were the people I knew wouldn't make it past the first day, which upset me, because those were my friends. The ones who had a chance, I barely knew or didn't like.

"Malli," I whispered. "Do you think me and you will make it past the cornucopia?"

"I think so. You're skilled and I'm quicker than most girls in school," she sounded so confident.

Everyone went to bed a few minutes later. Tomorrow we were going to learn some new things. I needed to learn how to trap. There was a voice at the back of my head saying that I wasn't going to have time to grab a weapon before the fighting starts.

Chapter 3

When going into the training area, I expected to see a bunch of weapons laying around. Instead we had instructors and sections. I almost immediatly went over to the knife throwing area... Then I changed my mind. I didn't want anyone to know what I could do. That kept me away from a spear too. So I went over to the snare and trap section.

I learned a lot there too. Daeken taught me how to hunt, and I was good at it, but the snaring and traping was definently going to help me out. I could leave and come back later. Hopefully none of the other people would find my snares and wait for me to come back. Either way, if I got far enough away they'd never find out where I was until there were more of them dead.

That was my strategie. I was going to get far far away and hopefully be forgotten until later on when there were less. After that I would make my way back and claim the cornucopia for myself. I doubted there would be much competition for it and I could defend what I wanted pretty well. By the time I took it, there would be so little people that they'd be afraid to team up with anyone.

Janice walked up to me. "This is so stupid. I think it's clear I'm going to win. I mean... Raven and her friends are fake. Berry is going to die the first day. I don't know about you. You're a fighter. You'll probably make it to the final... twelve and then get killed by Dragon or Ever. They look tough and honestly tough. I'm kind of scared of them..."

"You don't have to worry about them. Trust me, your fellow district tributes are who to worry about. I hear Raven and Natalia are practically recruiting people to help them take you out the second the gong sounds. Berry and Malli are smart, they can get out of there before too long. After that it's up to stamina. I already have a plan," I smiled.

I knew Janice was aching to know what I was going to do. She knew I'd never tell her though. And I had no intention of telling anyone. I just liked to worry people. It was easy to tell that Janice had no plan for the hunger games and knowing her, she would act on impulse only. There were no second chances in the hunger games. She had better be able to move quicker than she looks. If not, Raven and Natalia would surely murder her that second. Come to think of it, Rulia might be trying to get me killed during the blood bath of the cornucopia. Ever since we met Rulia and I have not liked each other. She treats people like slaves and I didn't like that so I wouldn't be her friend. Raven and I didn't have many problems, but there was this wall that kept us from being close for some reason.

Raven was friends with most the girls in our class, so she could easily make allies. I had a problem with that though... Aroura, Berry, and Janice were almost the only people I could become allies with, but I'd have a hard time trying to protect them. Janice and Aroura were the main targets and Berry was slow. My best chances were with Malli or maybe one of the girls from the other districts. I doubted they really wanted to make friends, though. They already had each other. Maybe some outcast would be friendly enough, but I was so untrustworthy, that I would probably kill her the first second I got. Which would make the plan I already made my best choice. Allies were just trouble to happen... And like I said before. In the hunger games, there are no second chances. One mistake and I'll be dead. That wasn't how I was going to go out. If I did, I'd go out fighting. No other way.

"Hey Malli," I walked over to the camoflage area where Malli had been drawn to. She was pretty good. Back home, Malli had been quite an artist. I guess that was helpful.

"Hi Mock," She smiled at me.

I swear if I hadn't known her for more than a year, I'd think Malli was only twelve or thirteen. She was just that adorable and it was frightening thinking about her going into that arena with malicious people all trying to kill each other.

"You're really good at this," I said.

Malli had made half her body look like a mud bank. If she was lying next to a river like that, I'm sure noone would ever find her.

"Thank you," Malli beamed a smile.

Malli had a thick accent. I didn't know where it came from, but it was dificult to understand exactly what she said at times. But when she talked slowly, it was easy to understand her. Also it seemed she was always saying something positive no matter the situation. I admired her for that. It was well known that I couldn't do that. Almost all the time, I was very negative.

"You looked like you were doing very well over by the snare area. Is it hard?" She asked.

"Not really. I'm going to need that skill though. Just in case I can't get to a weapon in the cornucopia before the other girls start murdering each other. But so far, we don't know our arena. Not until we get inside..." I explained.

"Well I'm sure no matter what it is, we'll be able to survive. Why would they have the hunger games if they just wanted to watch a bunch of tributes starve, freeze, or just plain die. No they want to keep us alive enough to get a good show and see some bloody fights," Malli awkwardly smiled.

She had a point. The Gamemakers wouldn't just leave us in an arena to die "boring and dull" deaths. There would be enough to survive... But would they make the arena smaller than usual to push us together since there were more? I didn't know and honestly rather not, for now.

"You're right. I need to relax..." I explained.

She slightly nodded. Then, in front of everyone, hugged me. Almost everyone looked toward us. I wasn't hugging back, but I wasn't exactly looking confused or angry either. She let go and smiled. I wanted to pinch her cheeks, she was just too cute. Instead I walked over to a food gathering area.


	2. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It has been two days since my first day here at the Training Center. Now we were going to get our training scores. There were a lot of us and since District 11 was the last district in order who was here, that made us have to wait until almost the very end. We went in order of our last names. Which mean't I had to wait until Karria and Rulia were done. I was third on the list, then Malli and so on. Berry looked nervous, but then again so did all of us.

"You okay?" I asked her.

"Oh, yeah just... I don't think I'm going to get a high score. I don't even know what I should show them," she explained.

"Just show them the one thing you're the best at. That's what Malli and I decided to do. Then they'll see you at your full potential."

"True. I don't think I'm going to make it past the cornucopia though. The other girls will probably kill me as soon as I make it there..."

I slightly frowned. "I'm sure you'll do fine. Just grab something and get out. That's the smart thing to do. After today we have our interviews... Then you know what happens next..."

"The 400th Hunger Games will start..." Berry looked a little more nervous.

I nodded, then Karria came out. She looked indifferent, yet there was a little bit of pride behind her face. It was Rulia's turn now. After she finished, I got up.

When I went inside, the Gamemakers were all sitting up on a balcony. There was a forcefield between me and them. They looked a little bored and tired, but still watching. They must have been hoping for some girl with extream potential.

I immediately went over and grabbed a hand full of knives and one of the dummies. I flung the knives, trying to look obviously not trying hard (which I wasn't), into the dummy. That caught their attention a little bit. I kept doing that, until most my time was up. Then I went and took all the knives out and grabbed a spear. I fought with the dummy. When I was finished, most the stuffing from the dummy was gone. To top it all off, I threw the spear across the room into a target and knocked it over.

_That should do it_, I thought. I gave them all a smile and walked out. When I was leaving, I swear I heard someone say, give her more than a ten! Maybe that was just my imagination, but it sure did boost my confidence a lot.

So I sat with Karria. We didn't talk to each other, but we still sat next to each other. At least until more people were done with their show for the Gamemakers. Janice came out looking completely disappointed, at least until she got into (what she thought) the full sight of everyone. Then she looked like she had won a marathon. But everyone here knew better. Karria snorted next to me. Her long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Her brown eyes seemed to drift all over the room. I admit it was pretty boring waiting for everyone to finish. Raven came out looking as indifferent as Karria had. Vitanya and Natalia looked amused and began to talk to each other. When Malli came out she looked as happy as she always did, only difference was that she proud of herself.

All the time, Malli looked happy, but yet in a strange way a little sad. Like she was nervous under all that optimism. I smiled at her and she looked even happier. There was something about her that made you want to be friends with her. Everyone liked her a lot. She even tolerated Janice more than I could.

Eventually everyone was through. Our escort, whose name was Kikkia, told us we had about an hour and a half to wait before they televised our scores. That hour and a half was very tense for all of us. Once those scores were out, we'd see who had the best chance of living among us. I stayed quiet while they were trying ti figure it out.

"I think Vitanya or Raven got the highest score," Honey said.

"Probably. Or Natalia. Maybe even Karria. We just don't know," Berry said.

Then little Malli spoke up. "I think it's Mock."

Everyone looked toward me and I just stared. Then shruged. I didn't want anyone to think that. Not right now, at least.

Honey snorted. "Mock, you probably got a good score, but I don't think you got the highest. No offense."

I shrugged again. I really could care less. I thought my score would be pretty high actually.

"Shh.. It's on!" Raven shouted.

We all gathered around to watch. District 3 was first. The training scores went from one to twelve. Twelve being the best. The girls who stood out the most were Zaphanee and Yandra who both got nines. The other girls got scores from six to eight. Average, but nothing too special. District 6 was the same. Except Metalliana got a nine and Dragon got a ten. They stood out a little more than the rest of the girls who got scores around six and seven. District 8 was a weird mix. The highest score went to Ever. She got a nine while the others had seven or eights. Nothing lower, didn't expect there to be. The District 9 girls had bad scores. The lowest was a four, but Sollia managed to pull off an eight. Then we came up. Now it was the same order as before. Karria got an eight. Rulia had an eight too. Then my picture came up... With a twelve next to it! I don't know how I managed that, but aparently the Gamemakers thought I had more potential then I believed. Everyone gasped, and stared at me until the next tribute came up. It was Malli, who got a seven. She looked a little sad about it, but at least she didn't have the scores District 9 got. Then Tulip came up and next to her was another seven. Then Janice's picture came up... Next to her was a four... Some had to stifle their giggles. Most just didn't look at her, because we heard someone run out of the room and the door slammed. Then Tallia. She had a six. After her was Berry and Rose, who both pulled off a seven. Then Natalia came up with a ten. After her, Vitanya who also got a ten. Lil got a six and Maybelina came out with a seven. A lot of us got sevens. Raven on the other hand had an eleven... Which made me and her the biggest problems for each other. Honey got a six like Lil. Hopefully they could take that six and make them wish they had made it higher.

"Mock... You got the highest score out of everyone!" Vitanya gave me a look.

"I don't know how I did that... I thought I would get a ten if I was lucky... How did I get a twelve? That's only been done twice before!"

"Because the Gamemakers either saw that you could make these games interesting or want to see how many girls would try to take down the girl who beat them with the top score," Raven explained.

Luckily she was smiling. Or I would have thought she was more mad about what had happened, then I had thought. Raven wasn't a jealous person, but who wouldn't be upset if someone stopped them from having the top score by having the highest there was. And you hadn't been able to get that score.

We all went to sleep shortly after. There was a lot to do tomorrow. We had to be dressed up by our prep teams and then all of us had to go through interviews that would be the final key in who our sponcers would be. So I needed to put on my friendliest face, smile, and be cute. Or I could play off the vicious me. I don't know what the others would think of that, but then again... I really didn't care. Most of us would be dead soon anyway...


	3. Chapter 5 and 6

Chapter 5

That morning was all fast. I was half dragged down to my prep team. Luvvia, Callna, and Ullen worked through my hair, nails, and skin. The first time I met them, they had ripped all the hair off of me. The entire time I wanted to kick and thrash out at them, but I contained myself. Best to keep on good terms with them, at least until I was fighting for my life out in the arena.

Finally my stylist, Magnia, brought out my dress.

"I thought it'd would work for the girl with the highest score. You're the third person ever to get one!" She exclaimed in her funny Capitol accent.

Her skin was encrusted with emeralds and diamonds. Her skin was also dyed to a very bright blue. I couldn't stand the look of them. They were so strange and horrible. I mean... How can you honestly watch children go into an arena to die once every year?

The dress she chose for me was pretty though. I had to stare at it for a long time. It was like a tree. The floor sweeping bottom of the dress was a light green that mixed into a light brown that grew out into the breast area, where it became bright green with red dots to make it look like an apple tree. I loved the dress.

"Also we found this," Magnia put a pendant into my hand.

It was the pendant that Daeken had given me. It had a tree on it. The tree was etched into it though. It was beautifully made. I always wore it, so I must have forgotten about it when I put it on for the reaping.

"This is your token, correct?" She asked.

I nodded and teared up a little bit. I put it on because I wanted it to feel like home again. I missed my father and Daeken. I missed the people I loved and even the people I hated... I just wanted to go home. Maybe I could use that for tonight... Not entirely, but show that this bad-ass had a heart after all. I felt bad thinking that I was going to use my personal life to get sponsors, but I had no choice. No one here really knew me, so why not give them someone I wasn't. Just for tonight. Then in the arena, I'll show the sponsors that they were smart. I'd show everyone.

But I also had to do this for Yuri. And my mother. They died because of the hunger games and I wasn't about to let that happen to me. It was horrible hearing Yuri scream as that District 5 boy stabbed her in the stomach.

_"I'm sorry I let you down, Mockingjay! Please forgive your older sister..."_ Yuri has whispered right before she died.

I still had nightmares about that. So if I lost the games... I'd be letting down my sister and mother.

As soon as I finished getting into the tree dress and tug a little at the curls my prep team made with my hair. I felt so out of place. You would never see me in a dress except for the reaping. Any other time, I wore pants. Dresses were never really my thing. On the other hand, I looked amazing tonight. They must have some magic to make me look the way I did. The dress brought out my blue eyes and my redish blond hair was curled and tied up off my neck. My cheap mascara look was replaced with thick eyeliner and expensive mascara. They made tree branches with the eye liner. And there was glitter shadow making a stary night sky on my eyes. There was something different about my face. It wasn't mine. Mine had been taken and remolded into something else. Something amazing and beautiful. I knew when Daeken saw me tonight, he'd be in shock. I never looked like this. I couldn't afford make up like this. Also I wasn't so artistic that I could make tree branches and a stary night sky.

So I walked out to where we would be interview tonight. We sat among our districts. Some of us were forced to sit in the absent districts sections because there was hardly any room for all of us. But Caesar Flickerman's great great grandson, Ivle Flickerman was the new interviewer. We learned in class about how Caesar interview the tributes and it seemed that Ivle did the same thing. They all tried to help the tributes out, no matter what it seemed.

The only people I really paid attention to where the girls with the highest scores in each district. It seemed that Zaphanee was pacifist, but decided to let that go until the hunger games were over. Yandra on the other hand wanted to fight and said she'd have fun during the cornucopia. In District 6, Dragon explained how she thought that being a tribute wasn't that bad and at least they got plenty more to eat than at her district. She was trying to be funny, but Ivle got her to admit that she was as ready to fight as Yandra was. Another District 6 person I focused on was Metalliana. She explained how she wished she hadn't become a tribute, but was happy to entertain the Capitol since she was anyway. I knew she was someone to look out for. The District 8 girls said some of the same things, so I only focused on one girl and that was Ever. Her tan skin looked like it was glowing with her hot pink gown. Even her long naturally curly black hair was left down. There wasn't much need for changes with her. She talked about her family at home. Then said she was happy to be here to get a chance to give her siblings a better chance if she won and went home to the victor's village. District 9 wasn't much. I didn't even bother to pay attention to them. Sollia didn't even grab my attention for more than a second or two. Then we came. Us District 11 girls looked a little more intimidating now only because we got the first and second highest scores. But we also got the lowest because of Janice. Karria and Rulia said pretty much the same things. Only Rulia kept showing off her experiences which seemed to bore our interviewer. After them it was my turn.

"Mockingjay Hamren!" Ivle Flickerman called for me.

I got up and walked as gracefully as I could to the seat. Once I sat down the interview began.

"So, Mockingjay. Tell us, why did your parents name you that?"

"Because in District 11 one of the great things we have are the mockingjays. They bring joy to people during the worst of times with their singing," I smiled.

That got most the attention of the crowd. Some sweetly sighed, even.

"That's amazing. So you got a twelve in training! That's great! What did you think when you found out?"

"Honestly I was quite surprised. I thought I would get a ten or if I was lucky an eleven, but getting a twelve just blew my mind."

"I would have felt the same." The crowd laughed at that.

"Now, how does you're family feel about this?"

I gulped. "Well my father was rather sad, and so was my boyfriend-"

"-You have a boyfriend?" Ivle interrupted.

I nodded. "I promised him I come home. I also promised my father. And I will try. My sister was in the 394th hunger games. She died though... After that my mother grew ill and died soon after. So I have to do this for them."

"I thought you looked familiar. You're the District 11 tribute's younger sister. Her name was Yuri, correct?"

"I'm glad you remember her," I gave a sweet smile. "So I will try my hardest for Yuri, mother, father, and my boyfriend. I have to. That twelve proved to me that I can do this. It helped me finally believe that I might make it home," I explained.

There was cheering from the crowd. Some were even crying. I knew Daeken and father would be proud of me. At least I hoped.

"We might as well just crown you the victor because of that speech! I know you're mother and sister will be happy to know you are fighting for them."

As if on time, the buzzer sounded. Then I got up as the crowd cheered again, this time louder. Tears almost rolled down my cheeks, almost. Ever from six looked annoyed. Like she had been untterly disgusted by what I had said. I ignored her though. That had been my moment. Everyone in the crowd had cheered for me and it made me more than excited.

After I finished, Malli went up. After her interview, I stopped paying attention. I was tired and thought I'd use the rest of the time to get a little needed eye rest. Even when Natalia, Raven, and Vitanya went up, I stayed sleeping. I just didn't feel like trying to pay attention when I had barely gotten any sleep lately. Janice, I think, completely embarrassed herself. Ivle asked her about her low score and she immediately went into defense mode. After that she talked about how she thought she would win and that all of the rest of us were fakes.

This girl was _asking_ to be killed the first day! I didn't even say anything mean to the other tributes. I knew doing that would send all of them after me, and I wasn't fast enough to get away from all of them that easily. Janice was just plain pushing it!

Soon all the interviews were over. Nothing really that amazing had been said, but it was enough to ensure most the tributes sponcers. And that's the only thing any of us really wanted. It was one of the few things that would save us in the arena. One of the many things.

Chapter 6

I got no sleep that night. None whatsoever. So I was just laying there, thinking. Thinking about how nervous father and Daeken must be. About what would happen to them if I was killed... About Yuri and my mother... I even thought about how many of my friends would die tomorrow. I was sadened by it. Deeply sadened. But what caught my attention was the most, was that I didn't know what the arena was going to be. What if it was a frozen wasteland... Or a volcanic island? Whatever it was, I knew I had to be prepared for the wrost. If I wasn't then I was only going to cause problems for myself.

So when Helen came in to wake everyone up, I had never slept. You could tell to. I knew this would be one of my problems out in the arena today. I had to stay awake, until I was far enough to be safe for a day or two.

Magnia had told Luvvia, Callna, and Ullen to leave me alone today. Only she was going to make me ready for the first day. Magnia came in with my tribute clothes. They were a golden brown shirt, leather boots, simple pants, and a mud brown jacket. To me, this was a good sign. If it was a frozen wasteland, then I would have gotten a huge coat. If a volcanic island, then the outfit would be even more simple.

Then I got to a metal ladder and the second I touch it, I was frozen. Electricity kept me from moving even the slightest bit. A woman came out and used a needle to insert my tracker. God, I hated needles. I couldn't move so I had to just take it.

Then I was put in a glass case almost. It shot me up into the arena on a metal plate.

"Let the 400th Hunger Games begin!" a voice shouted loudly.

I had to stand there for sixty seconds, until the gong sounded. If I got off, the mines would blow me to pieces. I noted that this years arena was a plain with very tall grass and small trees. The grass around the too short to hide anyone, but going farther from there brought grass long enough to hide almost anything. I needed to be careful. In the distance were hills and rock mountains. Suddenly there was a huge explosion. I looked, wide eyed, in the direction of the sound. Apparently one of the District 9 girls dove off her metal plate. Suicide... She was seriously worried then. Sollia looked annoyed. Her black eyes glowed with anger.

The gong sounded and my heart went into overdrive. I bolted for the cornucopia. Somehow I made it there second. Malli was right about her being quick. She was there first and threw a pack to me and got out. I had the pack but grabbed a hand full of knives before making it out. I turned just in time to see something I knew would happen.

Raven and Natalia had Janice! They were stabbing her crazily. I was horrified! I caught the eye of Ever. She looked about to run after me, but I made a quick exit and switched directions as soon as I thought I was out of her sight. The grass was high enough that if I was on my tip toes, I could barely see over it. Also it didn't stay down, which kept my path a secret. It made noise going through it, but then again the wind made it make plenty of noise. This was good. I could make a far enough exit from the cornucopia. The mountains that were just large boulders together, peaked my intrest. I'd be smart to go there. So that was my plan. Get there and live there until there are only eight of us left.

I had to stop eventually though. The pack Malli had thrown at me crossed my mind. So did the several knives in my hands. I was surprised when Malli threw the pack at me, but she was probably trying to help me. So I took cover under a low tree that branched out to the ground, kinda of like a weeping willow. I emptied my pack and dropped the knives next to it. I actually had a muddy brown sleeping bag. The pack was black, which would be good for night time. Right now, in the daylight, it might not be so helpful in hiding myself. Other than that, I had some dried meat and fruit, crackers, a bottle with water in it, and an extra jacket and socks.

I smiled. "Perfect," I whispered.

I thought I was quiet enough, but my stalker must have had good hearing. It was good that I did too, or I wouldn't have heard her grunt when she threw a knife my way. I dodged the knife, but it still got me in shoulder. I pulled it out and turned. Behind me was Sollia. For the first time, she was smiling.

"Hi there," I said indifferently.

"Why hello. Just thought I'd drop by and show you my knife. Did you like it?" Sollia asked cruelly.

"Yes it was quite nice. One thing, though... You like mine?"

"Wha-" She said right as my two knives hit her in the throat and stomach.

Sollia fell to the ground. I walked over to her as her life slipped away. I guess the cornucopia wasn't over, because her canon never went off. Once they were over she'd be in the several canons. Poor girl, she looked as if she'd have a chance in the beginning. But she underestimated her fellow tribute. Big mistake. One I wasn't going to make.

I took the two knives from her body. I also took her pack and knife. Since I was here, might as well check what she had. She had pretty much the same thing as me, but she had gloves, armor, and her token was in the bag. It was a small bracelet that had her name ingraved into it. I took that out and put it on her wrist. She should go home with it.

"I really thought you'd have a chance, Sollia. Have a nice relaxing sleep," I said as I put all her stuff into my pack and walked off.

The only thing she didn't have that I did, was a sleeping bag. Which I was fine with. It would just be more stuff to carry that I didn't need. Also I left the jacket in her pack. The sleeping bag, extra jacket in the pack, and the one I was wearing would probably be enough to keep me warm during night. Also I barely had any room left and whatever I caught with the knives wouldn't fit. So I got rid of things I didn't exactly need, like the jacket. The other stuff seemed important. So instead of throwing out the body armor, I put it on. It was light weight. Pretty much the same as a shirt. except it was meshy and I knew that the only place they could get me now was in the head. But my head was a place I could defend. Then I had to keep moving. I knew that if anyone had been close when I faced Sollia, they might be on their way here now to see what happened.

Before I left, I checked my shoulder. Sollia hadn't hit me hard enough to cause me bleed to death. It was already beginning to clot, luckily. So I binded it since it was in the area where my shoulder started to become my arm. That would, hopefully, keep it from reopening, until I got to the moutain.

I ran for the mountain. I didn't make it there though. I got pretty far, and then heard the canons start. I counted up how many there were. In total twenty-seven! Then I found another tree, similar to the one that I was hiding in when Sollia fought me. Except this one was even more covered and the limbs were stronger. I got up as high as I could and rolled into my sleeping bag. I would have belted myself in, but I didn't roll in my sleep and if I did I wasn't too far off the ground.

I waited until night fall. Then I'd see who died during the bloodbath. The Capitol seal came up. Then the face of the tributes. It didn't show how they died, which was helpful to me. If anyone saw the way I killed Sollia, they'd understand why I got that twelve. I wanted them to keep wondering. From District 3, Impellia, Twill, Bielle, and Spall. From 6, Scarlet, Marie, Hallien, and Blodalia. The dead tributes from 8 were Combellimum, Penelope Saphara, Frances, Brenda, Aryna, Cellia, and Dhalia. And sadly from 9, all five girls, Sollia, Hydary, Beth, Bianca, and Idallia. Bianca had been the girl who dove off the metal plate. Then the District 11 girls appeared and I almost cried with who was dead. Janice, Aroura, Berry, Maybelina, Karria, and Tulip!

I cried for Berry, Aroura, and Maybelina. They were really nice. Especially Berry. She was a good friend of mine, just like Aroura. I might have hated Aroura poking me, but she was fun to talk to. Janice I didn't like, and I had already known she'd be up there. I slept after the anthem played and the night was black again.

When I woke up, dawn was just beginning to break. So I got everything back together and was about to make a run for the mountain, when I heard a noise. It sent me quickly back up the tree. I refused to move a muscle until I know who made it. And who came out was Dragon, Metalliana, and Ever.

"Shame about District 9. All their girls are gone." Dragon said a little sadly.

Ever snorted. "They only had five girls. I just want to know who killed Sollia. We walked past her body right before the hovercraft came for it. She was bleeding everywhere."

Dragon nodded. "I wanna know too. I bet it was one of those District 11 girls. Those two girls got an eleven and a twelve!"

Metalliana interupted. "I wanna find that girl who got the twelve. She'd be good to have around. We could take more than half the remaining girls out. You saw how much some trust her. That one girl from her district even threw her a pack! With her on our team, we could bait out a lot of tributes!"

_Keep your distance!_ I thought. There was noway I was going to go against my plan just to get farther. If the Gamemakers allowed me to, I'd stay for awhile in that moutain, killing anyone who got close. Maybe that would be enough.

"Pfft. Yeah right. She wouldn't join us. If she had killed Sollia, then that proves how untrusting she is. We can't take a chance like that. Plus, her score was too much higher than ours," Dragon said with plenty of ascid in her voice.

They agreed and, gladly, moved on. I didn't realize, until now, how hard I was gripping the branch I was sitting on. I waited a few minutes and decided to move on. I took a few sips from one of my two water bottles and walked for awhile. _No need to rush. Just take it easy, I'm almost there_, I thought. And I was close. I could see how large this mountain made of only on huge rock was. Eventually I got close enough, that running was my best plan. It was almost dark again and I didn't feel like sleeping in another tree. Once I got there, I noticed the small caves all over. All I needed to do was find a good one and sleep there. Also at the bottom of the mountain, there was a small pool of water. The water was amazing cool and clear. I had no iodine to purify the water, but the look of it said it was mostly clean.

After refilling my water bottles in the pool, I started to look for a nice hiding place. I couldn't take too long finding a good one. Night was beginning to fall and once it did, I wouldn't be able to check the caves for other tributes. While checking the caves for one to sleep in, I heard canon fire. I ignored it, knowing I'd find out who it was later tonight. Finally, I found a nice cave. It was hidden by a chunk of rock that had broken off. Also it was small enough to fit me in it, and have enough space for a sneaky getaway if I needed one. In the morning, I would search for tributes in the mountain. If none of them were the tributes with the higher scores, I might make alliances with them. If it was the other tributes, then I'd avoid them. Maybe move to another place. This was two days from the cornucopia, so I guessed that anyone who was coming this way wouldn't get here until tomorrow or the next day.

I decided while searching the other caves, I'd make my way to the top of the mountain. From there, I'd be able to see all around the arena, for a distance. Then I could see where my next move would be taking me. Once I got my sleeping bag out and laid inside it. The night was cold, so I put on the extra jacket and the pair of gloves. I was warm in all of it, but not so warm that I didn't need the sleeping bag. I waited for the Capitol seal to show up. Once it did, I learned that the District 3 girl, Carienne, had been canon I heard a few hours ago. After the anthem played, I went to sleep.


	4. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I awoke in sheer horror. There was someone else in my cave! I almost screamed, but knew that that would be a horrible thing to do. Whoever it was, was still awake and crawling inside. She had about five feet left, until she found me. I readied my one of my knifes. They were all different, so I hoped that I had a good one. Before they got to me they stopped. I was almost in disbelief when they talked.  
>"Hey Mock," Malli's voice whispered.<br>I jumped in my sleeping bag. Malli had found me! The girl who was positive about everything, acted so nice, and even threw that pack to me. Out of everyone, this little one finds me. I laughed.  
>"Be careful, Malli. I almost stabbed you! Next time, give a warning!" I said.<br>"Well I thought you were asleep when figured out it was you in here. From the entrance, I thought it was empty. Good hiding skills. Once I came in I realized I wasn't alone. But before I got out, I smelled apples and fresh hay. Then I knew it was you. That was your smell. So I decided to sleep next to you and in the morning surprise you," she explained.  
>I stared at her in disbelief. Of course little Malli was going to surprise me. She was as harmless as a rabbit. I just laughed and said something I never thought I would.<br>"Want to create an alliance?" I asked.  
>Malli's eyes stayed the same. Me and her had always been friends. She knew as soon as she found me, I would take her in. Honestly, I felt obligated to do this for her. Malli couldn't hunt probably and she also would be an easy target for Metalliana, Ever, or Dragon. Maybe even Natalia and Raven would go after her. Also Malli was the only girl out of everyone that I trusted besides Berry and Aroura. Since they had died during the cornucopia, I had only one person to cling to. And that was this little fourteen year old girl in front of me.<br>"Sure!" She almost shouted.  
>"Okay. First lesson. Stay quiet, alright?"<br>"Oh... Sorry," she whispered, barely audiable.  
>"Alright so... Can you believe all the girls who died?" I asked.<br>"I was so sad when I found out that Berry and Janice are dead. They were really nice... Well Berry was at least. Janice was rude and she always laughed whenever she said something mean... I didn't like her that much, but she was older than me by a month so... I just thought maybe... I don't know, that it'd be nice to be friends with her... It's sad for District 9. All of their tributes are gone."  
>"Well one of those deaths are my fault," I confessed.<br>"But I thought you got out once I threw you the pack," Malli looked confused.  
>"I did get out, after grabbing some weapons though. Sollia, the black hair girl, had followed me apparently and then attack. I had to kill her. You know... It's different than killing an animal. I thought maybe if they attacked first, I wouldn't feel bad... But I was more than just wrong. I still feel awful for it even though Sollia would have killed me, given the chance..." I explained.<br>"Hey... That's just one more tribute before going home. Remember that. I know I won't be going home, but that doesn't mean I won't fight hard to live for as long as I can. I didn't have time to grab a weapon before you and the other started getting close, so I grabbed a pack, threw one to you, then got away. If I had time to get that weapon... I'd be in a better position," she explained.  
>To prove that I trusted this girl, I reached into my pack and got one of the smaller knifes. Then i held it out to her.<br>"Take it. I have plenty more, and you will need one. If we make it farther or into the final eight, we're going to have to split up and if I wait until then, I will have no trust in anyone, and won't give this to you."  
>She took it gently from me. Malli had a huge, genuine smile on her face. She nodded to me and tucked it into her pack.<br>"Wait," I said as I reached back into my pack. I brought out the sheath to the knife that could latch onto her pants. I gave that to her as well.  
>"Sorry forgot to get this too. I took all the sheaths off in case I had an emergency and had to get it out quickly," I explained.<br>Malli nodded as she hooked it to one of the pant loops around the top. So I took the time to see if I could find anything out.  
>"So have you seen any of the others?" I asked.<br>Malli nodded. "Raven found me, but she let me go. Said next time she can't forget her promise to her brother to come home. Apparently Natalia, Vitanya, and her split! None of them trusted each other. I was sad when I saw most of our friends died."  
>"Hey, we didn't make it out like those poor District 9 girls did... I'm the reason for the death of one though..."<br>"Don't beat yourself up about it, Mock. These are the hunger games! We don't have a choice. It's kill or get killed. With Sollia being killed that just proves to the Gamemakers why you got that score!"  
>I smiled at Malli. She was so uplifting that I didn't feel as bad for killing Sollia as I had. Dawn was breaking and I decided it wouldn't be safe to sleep. Even with Malli, another tribute could easy take us both out. If we were sleeping that is, if I was awake then they'd never make it through the entrance. So instead we both decided to search the caves for other people. Maybe if we found another District 11 girl, we could grow our alliance to one more person only. Anyone else and I'd start to get skeptical. Like I had explained, ever since watching Yuri's ally kill her, my trust was lost.<br>"I can understand that. If we find Honey or Lil can we take them in?"  
>I thought about Malli's request. Honey and Lil were almost harmless. Both of them got low scores. They both aquired sixes in training. So taking them in might either slow us down, or scare off loner tributes who wouldn't want to mess with a larger group of girls.<br>"Sure. Only one of them though. Whoever we find first," I explained.  
>Malli smiled and nodded. I think she thought it through before I did. Though I couldn't see sweet Malli making it that far in these games, she proved to be a lot smarter than anyone had noted.<br>While walking around the moutain searching caves, I was thinking a lot. In all honesty, I didn't like Lil. She was obnoxious and we didn't get along. Lil had a huge crush on Daeken and when I started dating him, we just had an issue since then. Honey wasn't bad. I was a little surprised to not see her in the sky the first night. Out of everyone, the two girls with sixes in District 11 got out, unscratched I didn't know.  
>Eventually a cave proved to house a tribute. She was laying toward the cave wall, so I couldn't see who it was. But there were two of us and only one of her, so we both decided to find out who this person was.<br>It turns out the tribute had been awake. Once she heard someone coming, she turned toward us. It wasn't any District 11 tribute. But I knew her. She was from District 6, her name was Vasalissa. I had taken note of her because she seemed innocent, but still got an eight. Once I saw her score, I focused more on her.  
>This girl had no weapon. She didn't even have a pack. Vasalissa was just laying in the cave, trying to stay alive. I felt pity on this girl, but knew that if she were to make a move, I'd have to kill her.<br>"Please don't kill me!" She begged.  
>I would have done, I should have done it... But I couldn't... There was something about the fear in her eyes that reminded me of Yuri. I had never seen a more horrifying look in her eyes than when she was stabbed. So how could I sit here and look into the eyes of this girl and kill her without thinking that I killed my sister? I couldn't, which was why I didn't.<br>"Join us."  
>A confused look played on her face. "What?"<br>I sighed. "Join us. We'll help you. We have weapons and food and extra stuff. By the looks of things... You need us. So please, this is no trick, no kidding around, nothing like that. Please, we'd love to have another ally."  
>Malli gave me a weird look. I'll explain later, I thought.<p> 


	5. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

And I would. Malli probably remembered me explaining about Yuri during my interview, but not many people would put two and two together. Only certain people who had known me forever, like Daeken or my father, would have known why. I bet they were at home not knowing how to feel because they both knew my reason for taking in Vasalissa.

"So Vasalissa. You gonna join, or should we pretend we never met here? Only problem is that if you don't join, the next time we come across each other, I won't be able to give any more mercy. It's not you or anything, its the way this game is."  
>Vasalissa nodded knowingly. "I'll join you both. You're right, I need you. I have no weapons, no idea how to hunt without weapons, and I don't even have any supplies. In fact, I havn't eaten since the night of the interviews..." She explained.<br>I reached into my bad and pulled out a knife and it's sheath for her. "When I give you this, I'm hoping you're going to be truthful. When there are less people, we're all going to have to split. I don't want any betrayals. I won't go out the way my sister did. Yuri would be completely disappointed if I did. Deal?"

They both nodded.

Vasalissa gave me a small smile of appreciation. "Thank you, Mockingjay. I wasn't going to survive another day without you guys coming to my rescue."

"It's Mock. And Mallium here would rather be called Malli," I explained nicely.

"Oh, then call me Vasa. Please... My mother and father always called me that before I got throw into this place with my all girls class."

"Okay, that's easy to remember. Mock, Malli, and Vasa. A mix-match alliance," Malli laughed.

I laughed with her, and Vasa did a little. But we had to get moving. So we followed the plan I had made up before even Malli found me. We all climbed to the top of the mountain to see the arena better. Most of it were those small trees and tall grass, but eventually we saw what looked like a small forest and river over to the east. After talking it through, we decided even though it would be a dangerous venture to it, it'd be better than the caves in the mountain. Any tribute could find us during the night or day. And we would be trapped inside. If Dragon and her group found us, we'd be matched on people, but not skill. Dragon, Metalliana, and Ever all had gotten nines or tens in training. I had gotten a twelve, but Malli and Vasa had gotten a seven and an eight. So I was the most skilled here, but I didn't have the exact weapons of choice. When Ever had walked past me that one early morning, I had barely seen the bow and arrows that she had. Metalliana had a spear, and Dragon didn't have her weapon showing, but I knew she had one.

While thinking about that, we all heard about three canons go off. I jumped and was horrifyed that it might be one of my friends! Or worse...

"Who do you think they were?" Vasa asked, her voice quavering.

Malli just shrugged and I remained silent, not showing any acknowlegdement. Honestly, I didn't want to think who it might be. With our numbers decreasing as quickly as they were, we were all nervous. There hadn't been a day since the beginning where someone hasn't died. Tonight we'd see the three. I had a feeling that Dragon, Ever, Metalliana, Raven, Natalia, or Vitanya had something to do with it. They were all happy to kill. In fact, to Raven it seemed like she wanted to. At least if they weren't in her district and weren't Janice. But Janice was dead along with the other bloodbath tragedies. Including a lot of others. If Berry or maybe Tulip had made it out of them, I probably would have helped them. Not taken them in like Malli and Vasa, but I would have helped a little. I knew that Rose was probably better off and so was Rulia.

That was the first time I thought about Rulia since entering the arena. I hadn't seen her during the bloodbath, but I hadn't seen her in the sky either. So maybe that was a sign that Rulia and I were going to have to go against each other sometime. I didn't want that to happen, but there was nothing I could do to prevent it. The only ways to keep it from happening was if one of us was taken out first. Rulia didn't seem like she would last long. Honestly, she appeared to be better off than Malli so maybe that counted for something.

Maybe that's were Honey or Rose were. They were friends so that had to mean something. I knew anywhere Rose went, Lil was bound to follow. Rose was calm and not much seemed to affect her, which was different. One of her best friends was Lillith and even Tallia. Maybe that's why they all lived. They all probably had some alliances going on.

Actually, finding Vasa all alone kind of confused me. I bet there were people in her district who would team up with her... I knew I wasn't being trusting of Vasa. I mean... We did find her in a cave all alone. So I doubt that she would be doing anything bad. Maybe it was all in my head.

We gathered all our stuff together and started to get off the mountain... Right when some tributes jumped out. Turns out, it wasn't in my mind. Vasa was trying to get us off that mountain. All four tributes around us were District 6 girls. They had malicious smiles. Even Vasa.

"Sorry girls, but you made it too easy. I honestly thought you'd be harder to get off that mountain. We couldn't just ambush you. I mean... It would have been easier for you all to get away from us. So... Have you met my friends? Alyssa, Rekiana, Ana, and Midnight? Other than Dragon and Metalliana, we're the only ones of District 6 left! So now you know that whoever you're in the sky with tonight, most likely won't be anyone from District 6. Heh."  
>They all brought out their weapons. I saw mostly knives, but Midnight had a spear.<p>

"Malli, get your knife and follow me. We're going to get out of here alive," I whispered.

She did just that and so did I. Then all hell broke loose.

Midnight came at me, actually most came at me. I heard a cannon and realized that Malli had stabbed the Ana girl. Vasa was the leader of this group and stayed behind, just watching. I grabbed Midnight's spear from her and used that to take out Rekiana and Malli stabbed Midnight in the back. Only Midnight's cannon went off. Alyssa stayed out of the way and got out with Vasa.

I realized that Alyssa had gotten the spear back after it was too late. It hit Malli in the foot. Her scream could have made my ears bleed. We had to pull it out together. She just sat down after that and had tears running down her cheeks. Another cannon went off telling us that the other girl was dead. Now I knew we were in trouble. Vasa and Alyssa knew where we were and where we were going. That forest that looked like it would be more than a days trip with traps and other tributes. I looked over at Malli and realized that there was no way she was going to make that trip. We would have to think of something else. And right then, the Gamemakers decided to make it rain...


	6. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Uhhh," Malli groaned as she held her right foot. "It hurts too much!"

"I bet it does. You got speared in the foot. Just think, it could have been worse..." I stopped there. Malli nodded in agreement.

"Next time, we have to be more careful. Vasalissa lied to us and got us out of these caves only to drag us into a battle with her District. She seemed so vulnerable!"

I knew that. I also knew that I should have killed Vasa when I had the chance! It's just, she seemed so innocent and yes, I saw my dead sister in her. But I should have known better than that. Vasa was the only time I was ever going to underestimate someone. The very last time. Sollia had underestimated me and I had killed her. I underestimated and almost killed myself and or Malli.

Malli must have felt my grief. She put a hand on my shoulder. "Mock, it's alright. We're both alive and we took out three of the attackers. The only ones who got away were Vasalissa and Alyssa. I bet after their run in with us, they'll be more watchful. So I suggest that we take it easy for awhile and then go on to another place. Not the forest, though. I believe that Vasalissa and her friend will be waiting for us. Better we go back into the grass. It's so tall, it could hide us even if I was on your back, which it seems like I'm going to be for a day or two."

Or more, I thought. Luckily the spear had been messed up when it was Alyssa threw it. The tip had been mostly broken off so Malli's foot wasn't too bad. It had gone far into her, but not all the way threw. Time was the only thing we could give it, but time wasn't on our side lately.

Both of us knew, one way or another, we were going to be kicked out of these caves. Most likely it would be the Gamemakers. Of course, I think we gave them enough of a show lately to persuade them to let us stay a little bit longer. With all the fights, alliances, and scares, I think they would let us stay for up to three days. Then they would, most likely, have the mountain destroyed of something like that. If there were other tributes hiding out, then taking the mountain down would kill a lot of them, but also bring a lot of us closer together. That meant another bloodbath to them.

I looked at Malli, she looked so innocent and easy going. How did she not die during the ambush? In fact, she killed as many tributes that I had. That I knew of that is. I doubted that Malli had been one of the bloodbath killers though. And that Carienne girl probably wasn't Malli's kill either. Carienne had been a really tall girl with a guy like body. Except for her girl curves that is. It would have been a group of girls like Dragon, Ever, and Metalliana to take her down, most likely. So Malli had only killed Midnight and Ana. I killed Rekiana and Sollia.

We relaxed and I eventually had to leave the cave to hunt. After Malli was stabbed in the foot, we left without taking the dead girls supplies. So when the hovercraft took them, it took everything they had. Leaving the cave with the girls probably waiting close by was a chance I had to take. Most of the food was gone and Malli and I needed to save what was left. Since Malli was still having issues with her foot, she couldn't go with me.

While hunting, I manged to get a large bird and some strange squirrel like creature with a rat like face and a long hairy tail. Never before had I seen something like this, but during the hunger games, it was eat what you can catch. There was a lot of meat on both, so I decided that was enough for a day or two. The sun was starting to go down, and I had to be back at the cave to see the dead tributes with Malli. We both already knew three of the six deaths today, but we wanted to know who else had died. After that, we both could figure out who was left out of the original sixty of us. The first day took out twenty-seven and after that seven girls have died in two days. That brought us down to twenty-five. One more dead girl, and we'll be the original number of how many tributes there are supposed to be normally.

By the time I got back, the Capitol seal had just gone up. The first girl that came up was Nemeah, then Rekiana, Ana, and Midnight. After them it was Aliana and Laney. Vasa had been right, if it wasn't for us, none of District 6 would have been up in the sky tonight. I bet they were cursing us for that.  
>After it was over, I decided to talk about the best place to go.<p>

"You realize that if we leave here, we can't go too far. This is the only place that has a small spring. Leaving here would be a bad idea because we don't know how long we'll have to go without any water," I explained.

"You're right. I suggest we stay close, but hidden. That way we can watch here, and at the same time, not be easy prey."

I would like to leave that night actually. Waiting until morning might mean a problem for poor injured Malli. If any other tribute saw us, they would probably take a chance and attack. Right now that was a bad thing. Malli probably couldn't fight and I couldn't fight if I was carrying her. So I decided to take a chance.

"Malli, we need to leave now. If we wait until morning, then we'll be easy targets. Come on. I know this will be difficult and will hurt, but we don't have any other choice," I explained.

She looked worried, but trusted my judgment. "Let's go."

Malli had to hop onto my back because her foot was so bad, she couldn't walk. I knew getting down the mountain would be the biggest problem. One slip and we both go down. There was more of a chance of that happening because I wasn't used to supporting a lot of weight. Since the beginning of the hunger games, I only had to carry my pack. Now I had to carry Malli and both our packs. Malli may not have looked like she was very heavy, and she wasn't. But after about five minutes, she and all the packs feel like five-hundred pounds.

I almost slipped several times, but managed to make it down the mountain as quietly as I could. Once we were down, Malli wanted me to set her down. Apparently, she was fine with hopping over to our new hideout. And we sure did find one.

Honestly, Malli found it. It was so hidden, she almost missed it. That meant it was a safe place. When I looked, it was a hole in the ground that went low, but not like a rabbits burrow. It was low enough to hide both of us and there was one of the weeping willow look a likes hiding it. Also the large grass around it made good cover too. I was amazed at this arena's hiding places. There were too many to me.

Only little Malli could have found this one though. It was large enough to hide us both though, and it was only about twenty feet from the spring. Also this little hole seemed to have a few animals hiding in it. I decided to take out a few for breakfast in the morning, and probably lunch too. The others ran off. It didn't matter, they were those weird rat squirrel creatures. I set out my sleeping bag that Malli and I had been sharing. Sadly, the pack she grabbed didn't have a sleeping bag, but mine was large enough for us both. We were so tired that once I skinned my kill, we both passed out practically.

When we woke up, it was early morning. The sun had just barely risen and that's when I realized how safe we really were. I could barely see outside the tall grass, and When I stood up, I still couldn't. The tree gave us great cover from people who might be watching for tributes on the mountain. After all the dead tributes yesterday, the others must be hiding themselves, or extremely cautious. I doubted anything was really going to happen.

I was right. Malli and I spent the rest of the day relaxing and eating the strange creature. It was Malli who found the right name for them.  
>"I remember learning about them in school when I was younger. They're called... Meerkats. I think that's what they're called... On the bird we ate yesterday... I have no clue..." She explained.<p>

I shrugged. We weren't sick or dying from it so to me, food is food. I don't care what animal it is. If I need meat, I'm gonna eat it. Simple survival. Malli seemed to know that too, because when I showed it to her, she gave a face but said nothing about it.

"Good job finding this place, though."

Malli smiled and giggled. I had to laugh with her. For a fourteen year old, she was so adorable. Just like a eight year old, sometimes. Even though her mind was clearly mature. If it wasn't, Malli wouldn't be alive right now and wouldn't have found me. Also this place was definitely proving how smart she was. Only a person her size could have found it and even then it wouldn't have been easy. I felt strangely like I owed Malli, even though she never really did anything to save my life. Other than throw the pack to me and fight off the District 6 girls with me.

I realized with all the girls dying as fast as they were, Malli and I would have to split up sooner than I had thought. At least for now, the alliance wasn't hurting anything. But in another two to three days, there would be so little girls that we'd be fine on our on. I kind of hoped Malli was dead by then, though. She wouldn't do well on her own. Her foot kept her from walking more than half a mile a day. She'd be easy to catch and kill. I wasn't going to kill her, but I knew that sooner or later either Malli or I would be killed. Or both... There was always a chance that us both would be killed.

Instead of thinking more about that, I cooked some more food for Malli.

"I'm going to go find more food. Stay hidden and make sure not to leave this place. If you do, get into here as soon as you hear a noise. I know tributes are lurking around her since all the noise we made yesterday in the fight and last night, getting you off the mountain. They wouldn't come after us in the dark, but today they will. So try you're best not to leave here," I stressed.

"What if I have to use the bathroom?" Of course Malli would ask that.

I pointed to the other side of the hiding place. "Right behind the grass is a little clearing. I found it and decided we have no other choice. So bathroom is over there, until further notice that is," I explained.

Malli nodded.

Then I set out. We were eating a lot. I needed to keep Malli fed so that she'd heal faster. So far her foot wasn't infected, but I was scared it might be soon. If it got infected, it was all over for Malli. It would just get worse until she won or died. Putting that out of my mind, I had hunting to do.


	7. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

There wasn't a lot out there. Mostly meerkats and those huge birds, but I knew there was other stuff out there. Meerkats didn't have too much meat on them and those birds were big, but it was mostly fat and not meat. Finding that other food source was where my problems were going to be today. I knew most other creatures would probably be hiding and I couldn't go too far from the hide out. If I left Malli for too long, she might leave.

I climbed up into one of the small trees, deciding it would give me a better look over the grass. It did help. That's when I saw we were near some taller trees and the grass was much shorter. It might be suicide going inside there, but I didn't really have much of a choice. If I could find something that had more meat, I wouldn't have to hunt again for at least three days.

So I sneaked my way over there. As soon as I was close, I heard noise from the some of the grass around me. A tribute, laying down, could easily go unseen. So hearing that made me start to run.

Turns out, I was right to run. An arrow stuck the tree to my right. Ever! I thought. Panic blocked out most my thoughts. I went purely on instinct then. I knew that Metalliana and Dragon were with her. I pulled out one my knives out of my pocket and threw it as hard as I could their general direction. I heard a little shriek. Good. I smiled. I got one of them.

Next thing I knew, I jumped up into a tree and climbed up high. The three were skinnier than I was, but obviously didn't trust these trees. They also had another girl with them. I couldn't remember her name, but I didn't have to wait long to find out.

"Haylie! Climb after her!" Dragon ordered.

She looked at Dragon with disbelief. "You're crazy! I can't climb! And who knows how many knives she has! District 11 girl hit Metalliana."

So that was who I hit? Heh... Good. My shoulder was messed up from when Sollia had gotten me. If I had hit Metalliana in a good place, she would be messed up until she died. So much for their wanting to ally with me before.

"Scared of me?" I teased. Might as well if I'm going to die here.

Dragon practically snarls. "Don't you wish?"

I laugh a little. It's easy to get under their skins it seems. "I think Haylie over there is."

I see her back up a little. Ever seems a little fearful, but I can understand that. Who wouldn't be scared of the girl who got the highest score in training.

They don't exactly know what my talents are. Only knife throwing. If I had a spear this would be a little more entertaining for the audience. If fact I could do well with my knives, but I think they were anticipating that. Definitely not a good idea to be throwing knives when Dragon has Metalliana's spear.

I saw where I hit Metalliana. Right in the thigh. It might not kill her, but she'd have some serious issues because the whole blade of the knife was in her leg. I threw a little harder than I thought I had.

"That hurt Metally?" I giggled.

Metalliana look at me with pure hate. With acid, she answered. "Shut up you. You'll either starve up there or come down and die. Either way, your ally is going to die! Did you think that Vasa and Alyssa wouldn't tell me about what happened? Ha! Once we walked across them, they explained what happened in exchange for us to let them go. Your friend has a messed up foot, I'm told? She'll die without you. A slow painful death. Starvation's a bitch. Take it from me, I've seen plenty cases of it."

Metalliana was right. If I didn't get back to Malli, she would die. Maybe not for awhile, but Malli would die in pain. Not something I wanted to put her through. All of us had to die except one, but no way would I let Malli die like that. I had to find a way to get back to her... And soon.

"You'll never find her," I almost snarled.

Ever snorted. "Like we need to. Sooner or later, she'll come out of where ever you hid her away at. Once that happens, she'll be easy prey."

Damn them! I was stuck and it was beginning to become night. Malli would be wondering what happened to me. And she wouldn't know unless I got back to her or I was in the sky. Guess I was going to sleep up here tonight. Better not turn in my sleep. I didn't have a way to stay in the tree.

When I woke up it was at least an hour past midnight. All the girls below were sleeping other than Haylie. The tiny one. The one I could easily take out. She was half asleep so it would be easier than I had thought. I slowly, quietly climbed down the tree and took one of my knives out. Then grabbed a medium sized rock near me.

Haylie didn't even see it coming. The rock hit her so hard she was out like a light. Then I dragged her off to the side and decided I might not get another chance like this. I stabbed her in her heart and took off before the cannon could go off. As soon as it did, I heard all the three other girls wake up. Panic kicked in again and adrenaline made me run faster than I ever had. Dragon must have been the first up because she ran after me immediately. She was fast, but the adrenaline made me quicker. I knew I had only a ways to go before I could get under cover.

As soon as I was in the tall grass, I ran so fast that I made it to the hide out in less than fifteen minutes. Malli was asleep, but she woke up quick.

"You're okay!" She jumped into my arms.

"SHHH!" I pushed her down.

We were both quiet and laying on our stomachs. I heard Dragon and Ever go past. Only because they were cursing so much.

"Dammit! That stupid girl took out Haylie! Whatever, I was planning on getting rid of her later anyway. She was just good company," Ever seemed more than pissed"

"Wait... Who's that?" Dragon whispered.

Crap! My mind screamed. If they saw us, it was all over. Metalliana wasn't with them, but they could both take us out.

"Oh, I see her. Too bad she's not District 11 girl. But she's from the same district. Why don't we give her something to be sad about. Haylie was from my district after all. One district tribute for another? Seems fair to me," Ever purred.

Who was it? Malli was worried. She grew so quiet that I forgot she was there. I couldn't even hear her breathing.

Then we heard a high pitch scream. There was pleading and I realized who it was. It was Lillith! Then everything was quiet except for Ever and Dragon's snickering. A few moments later, Lillith's cannon went off. I waited to make sure that the two girls were gone to speak to Malli.

"Do you know who that was?" Malli asked first.

I nodded.

"Who?"

I sighed. "It was Lillith. I've been around her a lot so I know her voice well."

Lillith and I had never been good friends. In fact she hated me... But it was still hard to know that someone you'd known since you were a young child had died... Malli understood that, I think. She said nothing else. Instead she went to sleep again. We'd see Haylie and Lillith in the sky the next night here in the arena. If we both made it that long... Things were beginning to get a little too intense for me... And Malli was beginning to be more of an issue than I wanted her to be... In the next two days, we would have to split up...


	8. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

When I woke up, Malli had already begun to eat what was left of our food. I hadn't been able to catch anything yesterday because of the whole attack with Dragon and her friends. At least Haylie was dead... But that reminded me that Ever and Dragon killed Lillith. She was so tiny, I thought no one would find her for awhile... No, I didn't think of Lil at all actually. Like I said, we didn't like each other very much.

I guess her death only disturbed me because it reminded me that if I want to go home, all my friends have to die. So do Ever, Dragon, and Metalliana... But so did Malli...

Malli's shrill voice got my attention.

"HONEY!" She almost jumped out of the hiding place, if I didn't tackle her down.

"Are you nuts? We're in the Hunger Games! Honey might not be up to joining any alliance! In fact, she's probably worse to meet up with at the moment. If you run right up to her, who says she won't stab you then and there. With you getting a spear to the foot, you won't be able to run from her," I remind Malli.

Malli gave me a look. "Then you go. You're fine, other than your shoulder. Something you still haven't explained to me. What happened?"

I sighed. "When Sollia attacked me the first day of the games, I didn't exactly dodge her well. Her knife still got me in my shoulder. It doesn't matter, I'm still well off. I have to talk to you later though. I'll go get Honeyseed."

I crawled out of the hiding place. Obviously Honey had a weapon. It been long enough that if she wasn't eating, she'd be curled off somewhere waiting to black out so the hunger could kill her. I just couldn't see what she had. Probably a knife...

"Honey..."

She turned. Honeyseed was worse off than I thought. It looked like her face was attacked by some mutt. The wound was infected too. I could barely look at her.

"Mock? Woah... You look great. Well better off than me. I'm probably going to die sometime soon..." She sounded completely lost.

"What attacked you?" I asked, careful not to sound mean.

Honey looked off into the tall grass. "Just some cat. Huge cat. Worse than the mountain lions around District 11. Not that they show up a lot, but they're pretty big. Now these cats were huuuge. I barely got away. I think the wound's pretty infected. Nothing anyone can do right now. Might as well go kill myself or something..."

"Or I can help!" A voice came from behind Honey.

Zaphanee jumped out. Her dark brown hair was up in a pony tail and her eyes were thick with malice. I pulled out my knife, but Honey just stood there. Even as Zaphanee shot an arrow into her back. Honeyseed fell down, but smiled... Then her cannon went off.

I screamed. It was too much to deal with. I lost six of my friends during the cornucopia. Now Lillith and Honeyseed were dead. I grabbed another kinfe. Now I had one in each hand and I was ready to kill Zaphanee. Her smile only made things worse.

I had just started after her when she called her friend.

"Fritani! Now!"

The tall red hair girl tackled me to the ground. Zaphanee waved and ran off through the grass.

Fritani and I struggled for a while. Malli wasn't helping because she knew I'd go after her if she did. When Fritani tackled me, I dropped my knives. Now I was trying to reach them so I could kill this girl. Fritani was obviously a fighter. She was strong too. I couldn't get out from under her.

"Mockingjay!" Malli's voice rang.

I looked and there she was outside the hiding place. "Dammit Malli! Go back there. Hide!"

Fritani kicked me in the stomach and before I could realize what she was doing... She had Malli by the throat.

"Aren't you awfully cute and small? I wonder how easy it would be to do this?"

Fritani broke Malli's neck. My scream must have alerted every single tribute in the arena. Malli fell to the floor and her cannon went off. By then I was on my feet again. I got to Fritani and knocked her as hard as I could to the ground. Then I used my knives to end her life. The same way I had killed Sollia.  
>I waited until Fritani's cannon went off. Then I walked over to Mallium.<p>

My tears were coming down so hard that I could hardly see. As I picked Malli's body up, I couldn't help but hug her to me. I knew I couldn't talk because of the huge lump in my throat. Still I begged that she forgive me for not saving her. Malli looked peaceful in her death. I had loved Mallium like I had my own sister. I wonder what Yuri would be thinking of this. Would she welcome Malli? Yes I think they're cheering me on wherever they are. Mom too... I let Mallium's hair our of the high pony tail and kept trying to get forgiveness from her. I knew all the cameras were on my right at this moment. But I honestly didn't care. Let the commentary people figure this out. The only thing I kept myself from doing is giving them an inappropriate hand gesture. I looked at the mess from all this. I put Malli down.

Eventually I knew I had to leave Malli, Honey, and Fritani's bodies. I kissed Mallium on the cheek and took my knives out of Fritani. I also apologized so quietly that the Gamemakers would never know what I said.

"I'm sorry. These games bring out the worst in us. Forgive me please. I forgive you for Mallium. You just wanted to go home, too."

Isn't that what drove us all to do these things? Every single tribute just wants to go home. None of us volunteered so that proves that none of us are in this for the glory. So why were we all fighting like careers? I guess it was because we had more to lose. Families to feed, boyfriends to go back to, and even some of us had nothing but didn't want to die. In my case, I had a father and boyfriend to go home to, but my sister, Yuri, and my mother were gone. All because of these games.

What did Mallium have to go home to? I never met any of her family and never asked while here. During her interview, I don't remember her saying anything about them. Did she have anything to go home to?


	9. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

I couldn't stay in the hiding place any longer. It was bare and strange without Malli. The area outside it felt evil to me now. I couldn't look over there and not cry, but I had to move. Pity would cause me to lose sponsers, not gain them. So I went off to search for a new place I could stay awhile. I was hoping there would be no more bloodshed today. Tonight I was going to see too many of my friends in the sky.

It made me feel out of place, knowing that most my friends were dead. I felt more alone then I ever had since Yuri and my mother died. At least, if I went home I would have my father to go back to. Then it hit me. Someone from District 11 had to win. I think as long as it was one of us, I wouldn't care who won. There were more District 11 tributes than any of the other districts.

I kept thinking about this while I climbed up into a tree. I had walked all the way back to the mini-forest. The trees were tall enough that I would not want to fall. So this time, I belted myself onto the branch of the tree I was in. Now I was on plan b, having neglected plan a completely. By taking Malli in, leaving the mountain, taking Vasa in, not killing Vasa and Malli in the first place... But I never would have killed Mallium. Vasalissa, I should have, though. She had been a serious threat that had caused poor Malli's death, if I really think about it. Malli was too fast. Fritani never would have been able to catch her, let alone break Mallium's neck.

My blabbing thoughts were silenced by the Capitol seal that showed up in the sky followed by panem's anthem. The list of dead tributes showed up and it was a kind of long list. Not as long as the cornucopia bloodbath list, but it was kind of long. In order of district, Fritani, Haylie, Lillith, Honeyseed, and Mallium. Actually there were more deaths the day of the District 6 attack, but I guess this one felt longer because of the three District 11 deaths. I wonder how Raven, Vitanya, and Natalia felt about this. We still had the most tributes left though. District 3 still had Zaphanee, Willow, and Yandra. 6 had Alyssa, Dragon, Vasalissa, and Metalliana. 8 had Ever, Xandria, Janhem, Amalia, and Forria. District 9 after this week in the games, had no one after the first day. District 11 still had Natalia, Raven, Vitanya, Rose, Rulia, Talli, and I. Thinking about that, there are only nineteen of us left... With the arena no longer needing to be huge, the Gamemakers were probably going to herd us closer together. A fire or earthquake would be the way they do it. Natural disasters are not a fun way to die, but the Gamemakers will do it just to remind us that we can all be killed in seconds. If that was what they wanted. But that would be too quick and boring for the Capitol. They'd complain and all the Gamemakers would be killed. Seemed that way at least. The Gamemakers seemed to change a bit every year.

Tomorrow, I'd be on the move again. That was plan b. I had to keep moving and hope I didn't run into any of the other tributes. With this many of us left, I knew the remaining tributes would be anxious and attack prone. I was as well, but I knew that most the remaining tributes were hiders. The only way they were coming out was if they were scared out. Not something I cared to do. It would take too much time and make too much noise. Plus I think the hiders were survivors, for the most part. Let Dragon and her friends scout them out. I'd sit back and watch until later.  
>I fell asleep a little easier, knowing I didn't have little Mallium to look out for. I had loved her like a little sister, but she put too much worry on my mind. She was in a much safer place now... Safe... I wondered if that was the correct thing to say... Would her family hate me? For not saving her? I had tried... But it hadn't been enough. At least I killed her killer. Maybe that would be enough...<br>When I woke up, I knew that I had to get moving. I would hunt while moving. Right now, I wished that I had been small enough to work in the tops of the trees. Might have saved me the trouble I had caused when I was chased up a tree by Dragon, Metalliana, Ever, and Haylie. So much for no careers in these games. I swore these girls had been practicing. At least the three still alive had. Haylie had obviously been taking in by Ever to make their numbers even.

I had managed to catch a weird pig like animal. It had a lot of meat, so I decided to take some and leave the rest. Maybe a tribute would find it, but after seeing Honeyseed before she died, I didn't care. That image had made me realize that hunger and being attacked (and her infection in the wounds) could do to you. Plus the pig was too much for me to carry, and I didn't want to set up camp right in an obvious place like that.

While walking, I heard another pair of feet walking near me. As soon as I heard that, I stopped and jumped up into a tree. I wasn't going to be attacked again. Today I was going to relax until the Gamemakers had enough of it. The other girl turned out to be Yandra from District 3 and she was walking with the only other District 3 girl I didn't want to kill. It was hard to remember her name, but soon I realized it was Willow. I was surprised to see any of the District 3 girls together. Zaphanee was the only other one left and that mean't their district was about to be gone. The only district out of tributes was 9. Somehow, all the other had a few in each left.

"Yandra, I don't want to walk anymore," Willow's tiny voice got my attention.

Willow was tiny. So was Yandra. Yandra was probably fourteen and Willow thirteen. They looked like sisters. It kind of was strange. They both had the same black hair, brown eyes, and very tanned skin.

"We can't just stay here. Zaphanee is not going to just let us go because we're in the same district. And the other tributes are dying fast. I'm not taking any chances. I promised mother that I would care for you... At least until later..." Yandra looked sad.

So they were sisters! How tragic... Both being thrown into the games knowing that their sister would have to die for them to go home... It made me so sad, I almost hopped out of the tree to make an alliance with them. But Yandra has a sword, while Willow only had a sling shot.

"I don't care! I am tired! Either find a place to stay for the rest of the day, or carry me."

I had respect for Willow. She knew she was being filmed. If tributes were close, the Gamemakers made sure to keep an eye on the situation. But also everyone got time on camera here in the arena. Willow could still be a bitch to her sister even on camera.

"You are so much trouble! I can't even deal with you! If you want to get killed, stay here. I'm moving on," and with that, Yandra walked on.

Willow looked like she was going to leave with her, but changed her mind and sat down. I couldn't believe it. Was she purposely trying to die?

"I wanna go home," she sobbed.

I felt for her. I wanted to go home too... But right now, that wasn't happening. So I did the only thing I would let myself do. I got out of the tree and pulled out part of the pig I shot before.

"Want this?" I asked.

Willow jumped and looked terrified. She backed away from me.

"Y-y-you-you're the girl who got the twelve... Why are you giving that to me?" She looked confused and terrified. It was a funny combonation.

"You look hungry and I can always get more. So take it. You might want to find your sister, though. She'll get worried."

I threw the pig leg at Willow. She caught it and I walked away. Yandra came bursting in.

"District 11? Willow! What happened?"

Ugh, my day was about to get more interesting than I mean't for it to be.

"She gave me this," Willow held up the pork.

"Is it poisoned?" Yandra turned to me and held her sword toward me.

I groaned and shook my head. Did this really have to happen?

"Turn your sword the other way, little girl," I said through my teeth.

I think it spooked her, because she did as I said.

"What's your name?"

Seriously? "It's Mock. Short for Mockingjay. Got to go now, don't want to be late for where ever I'm going," I said sarcastically.

"Thank you, Mock..." Was the last thing I heard them say.

After that interaction, I was annoyed and completely adrenaline filled. When Yandra pointed her sword toward me, I was about to fight. Knives against a sword wouldn't be that great, but I can get her from a distance. Willow only had the slingshot. So other than rocks, I had nothing to worry about. But it came out peacefully, which I liked. Noway was I in the mood for another death. Especially after Mallium died. I no longer wanted to have to kill to win these games...


	10. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

After meeting the sisters earlier, I was in a bad mood. My plans were not working out for me. I kept breaking them and choosing to do other things. That had always been a problem. I can't stick to things that well. I make a decision, but never follow it through completely. So I decided to give up on plans, they weren't helping at all.

At least I'd hold onto the promise that I wasn't going to make anymore alliances. After Mallium, I didn't have anyone else I felt like taking in. So I tried to focus my mind onto keeping the quietest I could and hunting along the way. It was a long day. There were no cannon shots, but that was kind of relieving. I would never say it, but like Willow, I wanted to go home as well. Daeken and my father were either proud or upset with me. I could understand if my father was upset. He'd seen me killing people... But Daeken would be completely confused with the way I've become. The arena changes you. Everytime someone had been killed, I felt like I just hurt more people than I wanted to. I had killed someone from every district in this Quarter Quell except from my own.

But at the moment, I couldn't feel bad. It was kill or be killed. Not that the others should have to be killed. Most of them were great people who would have so much to go back to. What did I have? A boyfriend and a father... It's not like I had many friends. The only friends I really had got thrown into the arena with me and most of them are dead right now.

So when I heard Rose and Tallia's voices, I wasn't surprised. I swear the arena had gotten smaller or we were all getting dragged closer together somehow.

"Sorry, Rose... I just... I feel bad for Karria. I thought she'd still be around. It amazed me that she didn't make it through the first day... I don't think anyone else, but us knows she had been pregnant," Tallia's voice sounded so sad.

Woah... Karria had been pregnant? No wonder she had started to get a tummy. Most of us though that she was secretly eating the plants. Most of us are too chicken to do that, though. Also most of us didn't expect something like that from Karria. No Natalia or Raven... But not Karria...  
>I could now see Tallia and Rose. Tallia's hair was in its usual twenty or so braids. Her dark chocolate skin and mouse like face seemed to be in perfect health. Except for the obvious loss of weight, she looked the same as always. Rose did too. Her dark tan skin and dark brown hair were a little messy, but she looked good. Which worried me. If no one was starving, there would be killing soon... Rose and Tallia had no weapons, but they had a small bag of familiar berries each.<p>

"You know, I've seen everyone from District 11. Except Mallium and Rulia. Oh yeah and... What's her name?" Rose looked confused.

"You mean Mockingjay?" Tallia asked.

She nodded. "I don't know... Mockingjay and I talked a few times... She lived near me, but I never really liked her all that well. She was kind of weird. I wonder what happened to her anyway. Mockingjay hasn't been in the sky. Rulia hasn't either. I'm afraid for her, though. Rulia had a big head so I'm surprised she hasn't been killed yet..."

"Same here. Rulia's my friend, but I just don't get why she's still alive. Most people in our class were annoyed with her. She treated everyone like they were her slave!"

Rulia had always done, ever since I met her. She was part of the rich side of District 11. She had the best clothes, always had to put her thoughts into things, and always treated everyone she met like they were beneath her. It upset more than some of us. Come to think of it, Rulia probably was still alive because, besides being really mean, she was smart.

But Rose and Tallia seemed bored. Both just kept a look out and relaxed a bit. I had no want to be noticed so I decided I shouldn't move just yet. Tallia didn't seem like a problem, but she hadn't gotten a bad score during training. Neither had Rose. Both looked rather... On edge as well. Tallia had been a close friend, but Rose was more a friend to Tallia than I had ever been.

Honestly, I wasn't a good friend. I tend to think too negatively for friends. No one wants to be your friend when you look on the bad side of things all the time. Tallia was very perky and always seemed happy. Not like Malli, but she wasn't just a normal happy either. Rose always looked depressed and I understood that. In a time where you might not live a long life, there isn't much to be happy about. Mallium and Tallia were just a few of the people in District 11 who seem nothing, but oblivious. I think they are actually smarter than believed. Their happiness is from not letting the Capitol get them down. Which is why I envy them. Instead of the hatred I have, they have hope... You could learn more from them than anyone would like to admit.

Which is why, I would never have been able to kill Mallium and I would never be able to kill Tallia. Rose and I saw eye to eye over the hardships that we are forced to endore... But I had never had the chance to really get to know her. It seemed a shame that all but one of us were to die. I think in regular circumstances, more than half the girls here would become friends.

Soon I realized that Tallia and Rose had planned to stay here for the night. They set up a small fire without creating too much smoke. At this time, most of the other tributes would avoid each other. With so many friends dead, no one knew who to trust it seemed. So I was going to sleep in a tree again, but this time I felt closer to home than I had since the twelve popped up with my picture during training. Home to Daeken and father... But that was it. After these games, if I won, I would no longer have any friends... They would all be dead. At least for a few more days, I had people I used to call my friends. Now they were my opponets. But for tonight, I am going to consider them friends, because it'll remind me who to hate.

Who I could never forgive...


	11. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Somehow I had known they would still be there when I woke up. Rose and Tallia were just sitting down eating berries. They were definitely raspberries. I could tell from the red color. My stomach rumbled, reminding me that I had some meat in my pack. The only problem was it hadn't been cooked. After seeing some of the sicknesses that people get from eating raw meat, I refused to eat it without letting it cook first. I wondered how long it would take Tallia and Rose to leave. Knowing my horrible luck, they'd decide to stay longer than I could hold out. Not that they knew where I was.

"Tal, we need to get going soon," Rose said.

I was glad for this. As soon as they left, I could get to work on getting a breakfast made.

Tallia surveyed the area. "I guess you're right. This is a nice place to stay for awhile, though. I know that there are still a lot of us around, but if there wasn't I'd stay."

"If there wasn't we wouldn't be allies. You know as soon as the final eight are left, we got to split. A larger group will become more easy to find, and I know that Raven and Natalia are going to be in the final eight. Those two have made extream promises to do whatever they have to do to go home. Mockingjay might make it, but I doubt she really has been fighting. Most likely she's been hiding out like Lillith had decided to do..."

There was an awkward silence. A small sob came from both girls. Lillith and them had been the main three friends in our class. I was one of the outcasts along with Janice, Aroura, and Malli. Everyone knew them. Even if they weren't in our class. Other than Daeken, I never really hung out with anyone during school. At home, I was usually alone. My father had extra work he has had to do to make up for my mother. I have some extra work to make up for the money that Yuri used to help make. But Yuri hadn't been a large part of the money in our family so taking over her place wasn't very difficult. For my father, it was very hard. Mother and him worked the same time, so he asked to take her place along with his. Double work wasn't easy, but he didn't complain. My father and I never really talked about mother or Yuri. It just brought hate and sadness with it.

"Just think Rose. Once one of us goes home, no more work. None whatsoever! Our families will be safe too."

"Unless we do die. Then our families get nothing at all and they continue to work without our help..."

Tallia shook a bit. "I think one of us will make it. Our families are close so whoever wins will help the others family... Right?"

Rose nodded. "If one of us wins we have to help Lil's family as well. She was one of the climbers along with us. That's how we knew each other, right?"

Tallia and Rose were berry pickers in District 11 along with Lil. It was easy work if you were good at climbing. Made good pay too, because most people couldn't do it. Not being so underfed and weak. Also the climbing gave you better upper body strength. If either of them noticed me, they could climb after me quickly. Hopefully Tallia would want to leave with Rose.

"Can't we stay for a little longer? I finally found a nice place. Soon we'll have to go back to the jungle area of the arena. Once we're there you know other tributes are going into that area."

Jungle? Is that what the forest was called? Of course I knew it hadn't been a normal forest, there was something very strange with the plants there.

"We should move. Yesterday we saw Raven coming 'round this way. I don't want to catch up with her. You saw what happened when she got ahold of Mallium. Raven almost killed her, if it hadn't been for Mallium saving her life. I didn't think little Mallium could get anyone out of quick sand..." Rose looked suspicious, which made me wonder as well.

Did Malli really save Raven? If so... Why? Raven has made it clear that she'll do whatever she has to do to win the hunger games. If Malli hadn't saved her, then it would have been one less person from District 11 trying to kill her friends. I've done everything I could to not be the reason of death for any of the girls from District 11. I couldn't let it bother me, though. Raven is still alive and fighting, but Mallium is gone. I can't let this confuse me or else I won't be prepared for whatever else comes my way.

About another hour went by before Rose and Tallia began to move on. My stomach was growling at me more consistently since when I had awaken this morning. Once I could no longer see or hear them, I started down the tree I had come up. It was a good thing that the plain gave plenty of cover, or someone would have easily see me hiding in the tree and getting down from it.

Once I was near the place that they had rested, I saw the small fire they had made this morning. Neither of them had put it out before leaving, and this was just the thing the Gamemakers needed to put the rest of us in a more confined area. That wasn't something anyone needed right now, so I decided I might as well put it out. After I use it warn up some of the meat I had that is. All of the pig had been cooked when I killed it, but meat wasn't that great cold. I know that I shouldn't be nit picking about it, but I had an opportunity right now. Never in a hundred years, would I have started a fire myself to do that. And simply putting out the fire might grab the attention of the Gamemakers. The last thing anyone needed was a fire, and they might pick up on that's why I put it out. The Gamemakers are horrible so I doubted that they would leave that alone. To cause more issues, they'd bring a stronger fire back... Or worse...

I ate a bit, and then started on my way. If everyone was moving into the jungle, then I'd want to stay away from there. At least for now. Instead I would go back to the mountain, or maybe the hide out. Luckily I had only traveled a half days journey and that mean't it would be easier to go back, since I knew where I was going.

Once I got back, I realized why everyone had left to the jungle...

"The mountains are gone!" I whispered to myself.


	12. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

They were gone! It looked as though they had just collapsed out of nowhere! I had only been gone a day! How could this have happened so easily? Of course, I didn't actually need and explaination. It was pretty obvious that the Gamemakers were moving us closer together. But no one had died in the mountains collapsing... Which confused me even more. The area where the mountains had been was a huge pile of rubble now... Nothing else left.

It took me a minute to relax and figure out a plan from here. The mountains were no longer an option and I didn't want to follow the other tributes into the jungle. That would mean too many more fights that I didn't want to have to go through. Fights meant death now. Everything was getting more intense since the majority of us all were dead and the rest were hiding or attacking.

"What am I supposed to do now?" I whispered.

"Maybe come with us?" A familiar voice said far behind me.

I whirled around and saw the sisters standing there. How did they find me? Didn't they already know about the mountains or were they following me? The sleepless looks on their faces said they had been following me.

"Stalkers now, girls?" I asked.

Yandra spoke first. "No. Willow and I just wanted... We have no clue how to go on longer and we can't hunt well. After you gave us the pork, Willow decided we should find you and make an alliance. There are still a lot of us left... We could stay allies until... You know... The final eight?"

"I don't think so..."

"Please!" Willow cried.

It was a good thing I didn't have a soft spot for children. Willow looked horribly confused and on the line of tears. If this had happened three years ago I might have cared more. But now I was in fight for life and after Malli died, I couldn't take in another tribute. Especially from a different district. Especially theirs. Other than Zaphanee, they were the only ones left. After Zaphanee and Fritani killed Mallium and Honeyseed, I wasn't about to trust a District 3. Not possible...

"No. I can't take in tributes as allies! Not going to happen. You all can figure out you're own way to win. I, on the other hand, am not planning to get hurt when one of you dies the way my other ally did!" I was being a bit harsh, but I was also being honest.

Willow had tears leaking over her eyes and Yandra looked about to cry as well.

I sighed. "Screw this," and I look off toward the tall grass.

If I had stayed any longer, I might have felt bad and helped. But right now I couldn't afford that. Not so close to going home... Not after Vasa's betrayal and Malli's death. Although I thought I heard them walking after me, I ignored them. I could easily lose them both and then it'll take them too long to chase after me. And if they decided to follow after me, they'd be putting themselves in danger. I already knew where I was going now. So I looked back once to realize neither of them were there. I still ran, though.

Everyone was going to the jungle part of the arena, huh? Well I had the perfect idea that would be weird for a District 11 tribute. I was going off to take the cornucopia. Tributes had practically been taught to avoid the cornucopia after the first day, but there weren't any career tributes this year. Knowing how non-career tributes, they would stay away. The cornucopia was also thought of as evil. The bloodbath was hard to get out of your mind after you witness it. Gladly, I had gotten out of there with only the view of poor Janice being viciously murdered by Natalia and Raven. And Ever on me for a few seconds, but that didn't bother me that much. Not after Ever killed Lillith for Haylie's death. That little scare was nothing compared to what not only I, but everyone here, had to go through.

Of course I didn't get to the cornucopia that day. The trip to mountain from the cornucopia had taken me two days. Going back would be tough... And I still had a strange feeling in the back of my head that the cornucopia would be gone along with the mountains.

I pushed that from my mind, though. Negative thoughts attract negative results, in my opinion. Just before I set up camp, there was two cannon blasts.

My first thought went to the sisters. If they had been following me and got caught up in a trap, then that was that. It made sense, but it could have been anyone. There were still a lot of people traveling in twos and threes. Actually there were very few who were like me, alone and happy that way.

Before the Capitol seal came up, another two cannon blasts went off. Who was hunting down tributes? It might not even be another one of the tributes, it could be the thing that attacked Honey. At least I didn't have to wait too long for the seal to come up. Once it did, I realized I had been right. Willow and Yandra were both dead. It made me sad, knowing that if I had taken them in earlier today, they might be alive right now. But the other two girls spooked me and also filled me with happiness. The two girls I have been unconciously hunting were now dead. Vasalissa and Alyssa were both in the sky. I almost shouted out a thank you to whoever it was who killed them. So there were sixteen of us left alive now... The stakes were getting higher and now I knew that it was going to get to people's heads. There was a good chance that the four dead girls for today were all killed by the strange career like Metalliana, Dragon, and Ever. But it also crossed my mind that, by now, they might have split up. The number of District 8 girls alive was higher than District 6.

Metalliana and Dragon were the only alive and that also reminded me that Zaphanee was the last girl of her district.

I heard feet walking about a thirty yards from myself. I was well hidden, though. At least for the night. As soon as dawn arrived I would have to clear out. I tried to figure out where they were going and it seemed they were heading for my direction. I readied for the fight coming. But then I heard running from behind the other tribute and before this strange girl knew it, the runner was on her. In a few seconds I realized who these girls were. They were both District 11! I knew immediately when she spoke who one of the girls were.

"Didn't think I'd come across another District 11 any time soon," Raven sounded vicious.

"Neither did I," Vitanya said, almost spitting acid from her voice.

I heard fighting and peaked over to look. All my mind was doing was telling me to run. Vitanya might know where I was and if she won this fight... I was going to be screwed. From the shrieks and practical snarls, these girls were slowly losing their mentality... But weren't we all? I got a good look at the fight, though. Neither were "winning", but they were both bleeding a bit. Knowing these two, they would fight to the death in a heartbeat. Especially with things being how they are right now... Soon it stopped, but there had been no cannon. When I looked, I realized that both girls had passed out. Their bleeding wasn't anything serious, but with the states they were in, might be bad. Both looked much skinnier than they should be even though I knew Raven and Vitanya had been able to hunt.

I decided to get out of there and travel in the dark to the cornucopia. Sleeping could wait, until I felt safe again...


	13. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Eventually I had to stop walking. I was close to passing out and I really did need some sleep. Vitanya and Raven were about a mile and a half from me. Now was the best time to get some sleep before the sun started to come up. Looking around, I realized I'd be sleeping on the ground again. All the trees around here was too short and didn't have many leaves on them. Also the branches looked too weak. Even Mallium wouldn't have been able to climb up them. So I found a small area under a tree to set up my sleeping bag. It was colder than it has ever been in the arena since the first day. I had to put on both my jackets and curl up in a ball inside my sleeping bag.

When I finally slept, I had no dreams for once. All I had was a blank feeling until I woke up. Once I did, though, I immediately got my stuff together and got moving. There was still some distance between the cornucopia and where I was now. Not to mention that Raven and Vitanya were probably still only a little less than two miles from me. That wasn't a large distance, but it was good enough last night.

Now it was dangerous. I wasn't in the mood to fight. Especially anyone from my own district. Still I had a good feeling that staying at the cornucopia would be the best plan right now. Surely the pile was still there. The only reason all those deaths happened was from fear and greed. Knowing how almost every tribute had left that area, there would most likely be no one there now.

I tried to follow the path I had made the first few days to the cornucopia, but it was difficult. The grass didn't allow for a trail to be made and I had to jump up to see over it. Gladly I knew I was closer when the grass became shorter. I remembered that the grass at the cornucopia wouldn't have been able to hide anything except insects. I could always sleep inside the horn, though. It would definitely keep all the freezing wind off of me.  
>For the first time since I came into the arena, I felt like I was making the right decision. Everything else I did seemed to blow up in my face. Maybe this one would work out, but knowing my luck... Well I'll need to be careful this time.<p>

It took another three or so hours for me to make it to the edge of the cornucopia. I had been mostly right about it. No one was there. But obviously the tributes that lasted through the bloodbath had taken a lot from the cornucopia. Half of the pile was gone. But I could tell from the faded tracks around the place that none of the other tributes had come back here.

So that was enough reason for me to stay. Looking through the pile, I found several things of use to me. One of them was food. I hadn't had time to hunt these past few days, so I made a mini feast from some of the food. I felt kind of proud of what I've done... But at the same time it made me feel like a career... I wondered what Daeken and my father thought of this...

I thought about how to divide up the food that was here so that it would last a while. Most of it was dried fruit and beef. Still there were a lot of weapons left in the cornucopia pile. There were two left over bows and quivers of arrows, about a thousand different types of knives, five spears, and (the most frightening) a spiked mace. I wondered if there had been more. And if so, who has them? Some other things that were useful in the cornucopia piles were a few pairs of night glasses. I remembered how they give them out during harvest so we can continue with work during the night. These could be useful for later. There were also about another fifteen packs like Mallium and mine. After seeing them I figured that the tributes who grabbed a pack on the first day must all have the same thing. Well there are a few exceptions. Each bag had a different piece of extra clothing. Some had gloves, others jackets. A lot had socks, though. I gave up trying to figure that one out.

So now I had a lot of stuff to choose from. This had definitely been a good desicion. Tomorrow I'd fill up on food to get lasting energy and go searching around the areas that I didn't think of earlier. It'd be good to see what happened with Raven and Vitanya too. I wonder what happened when either of them woke up. There weren't any cannons today, though.

And it seemed that I spoke too soon. About half an hour later there was a cannon blast. Which means there are fifteen of us left in the arena. Out of the original sixty girls who were thrown in, that wasn't many. Tensions must be growing between anyone in alliances. I wondered who it was, though. Had Raven and Vitanya woken up and killed one or the other? Was it Zaphanee, which would take District 3 out of this now. Maybe one of the other girls. There were still a lot of them left who seemed to be hiding pretty well and had been all but forgotten. Maybe they had been hiding in the jungle area of the arena when everyone else decided to run into there.

I had no plan on going there until later. For now, I was going to stay out of the action. Maybe even relax in this area. Later, when there are less of us, I go hunting. Everyday I was becoming more and more homesick. The sooner I could go home, the better. I wasn't going to die... I couldn't leave my father like that. He doesn't have anyone else. Everyone he loves will have died because of the Hunger Games if I die. I also knew that I couldn't let Yuri and mother down by losing. After finishing my dinner I decided to sleep again. The hours of walking in the increasing heat had become difficult.

I still waited for the Capitol seal to show up first. I had to see who was dead now. Just so I could scratch them off my mental list of remaining tributes. When it finally showed up, I found out that it had been one of the District 8 girls. I barely remember, but I believe her name is Forria. That still keeps District 8 in second place with remaining tributes. District 11 still had seven, Natalia, Raven, Vitanya, Rose, Tallia, Rulia, and me.

So after figuring out the remaining girls, I curled up in my sleeping bag inside the cornucopia horn. The last thing I thought before slipping into another dreamless sleep, was how everything was going to change after tonight. More tributes were dying more quickly. Soon there'd be only a handful of us left. Once that happens, it'll be like tribute hunting season here in the arena.


	14. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

I was jolted away by a high pitched scream. Then there was a cannon. I peaked out of the horn and saw three girls. I knew all of them. Two from District 8 and the other was Rulia from my district.

The dead girl was Amalia. She looked like her head was half way off. The other girl from 8 was Janhem. She shrieked out Amalia's name and with tears in her eyes, came after Rulia. I couldn't look away. Why did they come here to the cornucopia? Like I had said before, I had very bad luck. I went the whole day yesterday without seeing one tribute, which had been nice. But now I was watching a serious fight. District 8 would either be down to three girls (or four) or District 11 would have only six now. Honestly, I wished it'd be Rulia who died. Something told me she was hunting down tributes. If she died here, then I wouldn't have to deal with her later. My only issue was that every district was losing way too many tributes. Even District 11. Out of the sixteen girls, including me, that were reaped, there were only seven (might soon be six) of us left. Deaths three days in a row. Nice...

Their fight was pretty interesting. Rulia had actually gotten her hands on an axe. Janhem proved to me that there were more spiked maces, though. Their fight was obviously grabbing all the attention of the audiance. I flinched when Rulia hit Janhem in the leg with the axe. But at that second, Janhem hit Rulia hard in the head with her spiked mace. Rulia immediately fell to the ground in a pile of blood, but Janhem looked bad too. The only difference was that Janhem could get away, while Rulia was dying on the ground.

I realized then that I was biting so hard on my lip, that I tasted blood. I also had a strong hold on the mouth of the horn, which hurt my hands pretty hard. Once I was sitting back down, I waited for the cannon that would signal Rulia's death. Janhem would probably live for a few days, but Rulia hit her hard in the leg with that axe.

The cannon blast came sooner than I thought. I looked out as Amalia and Rulia's bodies were pulled up into the hovercraft. Then they were gone. Only six of us left. Tallia, Raven, Rose, Vitanya, Natalia, and I... I felt more lonely then I ever had. All my friends were dead or going to die... I just hoped that if I made it to the final two then it wouldn't be me against one of my friends.

Slowly I got out of the horn. Everything was quiet now. A few days ago, I might have left this place. But now I knew that this was my best chance for survival and I wasn't going to risk that.

I ate a few pieces of dried beef and an apple. Today I was going to survey the areas around here that I hadn't had time to think of on the first day. My instinct that day had told me to get something and then get into a place that could hide me. Now with only... Thirteen? Yeah thirteen. With only thirteen girls left in the arena, I wasn't that fearful of walking around the area. So much for all of them being in the jungle. Must just be the remaining District 8 girls (except Janhem) and Dragon, Metalliana, and maybe even Zaphanee. So I took the time to think up who was still alive. There's Zaphanee, Dragon, Metalliana, Ever, Janhem, Raven, Natalia, Tallia, Rose, Vitanya, and two girls from District 8. I think their names are Xandria and Ulli. I'm pretty sure. I've always been good with remembering names. That makes thirteen, including me. Yeah that's all. I bet people are really starting to freak out now in the Capitol. By now the betting must be going insane.

Not that the tributes weren't going insane as well. I hoped for there to not be a death tomorrow. We all need a break... Which was why I was going to stay at the cornucopia. I doubted many of the other tributes would go here. Most likely Rulia was either chasing or being chased by Amalia and Janhem to this place. I took my time getting ready to go searching.

"No need to rush. I've got enough time..." I whispered to myself.

I knew that talking to myself would probably be a bad sign for most. But for me, it was reassuring. For awhile I've been a bit quiet and hearing my voice helped to calm me down. At least for now it did. Still I needed to get a good look at the area. So once I was finished, I pulled up my pack onto my shoulders. I kept everything I might immediately need in the pack. But I left half of my knives inside the horn so that I could put some of the few medicines inside. Of course these looked like District medicines, ones that the district doctors had. Nothing that special, but it could definitely be good to have. With how little the cornucopia had, I guessed that the other tributes had gotten most of it.

Walking around just proved to me that the cornucopia was in the center of the arena. There were vast areas in every dirrection. Since there were no more mountains to climb to look all over the arena, I'd have to hope for the best. I wished that I had seen where Honeyseed had gone. I knew that was the place to avoid. Whatever attacked her, would probably do the same to any of the tributes. And I didn't feel like being ripped and clawed to pieces.  
>Eventually, I just went in the direction I saw Janhem going. By now she was either slowly dying or on the line of death. Either way, she wasn't anything I wanted or needed to worry about. But right now, I was so relaxed I didn't feel like worrying. The cornucopia had brought on a feeling of relief. The only thing that grabbed my attention was my hope that the Gamemakers wouldn't decide that my relaxation was boring and drive me out. But I've been purposely boring this whole time to keep their attention away from me.<p>

There wasn't much doubt that during Rulia and Janhem's fight I had been shown. A hidden tribute watching a fight usually draws attention. Especially when one of the fighters are in the same District as the hider. But I could care less about that now. Amalia and Rulia were dead and Janhem was close behind them.

Still while walking, I could see that Janhem's leg was putting out more blood than I thought. Her trail would be easy to track. After thinking about it, I decided to find her. She might want it all over. And bleeding to death might not be the way to go.


	15. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The farther I went in Janhem's direction, the more harder it became to stay on her trail. She must have realized about the path she was leaving everyone. Less and less blood was on the ground. Also I had no knowledge of this area she disappeared into. It wasn't like the plain with the tall grass. Here it was a bit more like the jungle I had avoided. But the ground was thick with sticks and mud. My leather boots were caked with mud and each step felt like I was walking through water. Surprising, the mud and sticks covered themselves back up as I walked. No tracks... The Gamemakers were really annoying me with this "no one will be tracked this year" bullshit.

Janhem was good at hiding, though. I went at least a mile without finding her. Eventually it started to become dark, so I thought it would be best for me to go back to the cornucopia. On the way back I realized that I was a bit lost. Everything looked the same. The only good thing was that I hadn't gone twisting and turning on the path I went. Once I found the blood trail I followed it. Then something went through my mind

Why would the blood trail just stop if Janhem was badly bleeding and her canon hasn't gone off yet? It wouldn't... So where was she? I go back to the end of the blood trail and start to look around that area.

"Did you come to avenge the death of your friend, District 11?" A voice says from behind me.

It takes everything for my to not throw one of my knives at her, but when I turn around there's Janhem. Other than the blood pouring from her body, she looks pretty good. More fed than most tributes would be by now. I guess she can hunt better than the rest of us (or knows how to gather in this strange arena).

"Maybe I came to help. Thanks to you, Rulia won't be coming after me anymore..." I know it might be picked up as a horrible thing to say back at home, but right now I need Janhem's trust.

She's holding on tight to her spiked mace. "Seems like you were in the wrong place then."

"Again," I mutter, but she still hears me.

A small laugh escapes her lips. "Well I'm surprised. The girl who got a twelve in training hasn't yet killed the girl with only a seven. Why?"

"Like I said, you helped me out. Even though our districts are fighting to have the most tributes left, I can't seem to shake the memory of you killing Rulia. Honestly, I think you should have gotten a nine like Ever."

Janhem snorts, "Don't even talk to me about Ever. If the Quarter Quell hadn't put her in the games, I'm sure she would have volunteered eventually. Ever has always been excited about the games. Always seemed to me like Ever just wanted to experience it. Now she's dealing with girls who got higher scores than her. Why else would she team up with the two District 6 girls?"

I don't know what to say. It makes sense to me. Ever, out of her allies, seemed the most on edge. Guess she doesn't like having actual competition for the cameras. Which made me remember that everything were saying is probably being broadcasted to all of Panem.

"Yeah well I'm dying so Ever has one less District 8 person in her way," Janhem sighs, no longer in a joking mood.

"I saw the fight. How bad did Rulia get you?"

"Well I have two ugly gashes. One is on my leg, the other is my stomach. Surprised that I'm not dead yet... With all the blood I'm losing, I'll be dead before the anthem goes off tonight..."

Seems she was right on cue because she falls to the ground right after. Luckily she doesn't fall onto her spiked mace. That would be a horrible thing to see. I crouch next to Janhem. Her orangey red hair has plenty of blood in it, and her black eyes seem lifeless. So at first I think she is dead, until I notice she's still barely breathing. Her pulse is weak, but still going... For now.

"District 11? Why are you still here? What, are you going to stay with me or something? It's fine. I'll be dead soon, you can leave," Janhem whispers.  
>I can't leave, though. I couldn't be with Yuri when she died, my mother died without me exactly knowing what was happening, and Mallium died to quickly for me to be with her. Seeing Janhem close to death fills me with grief. I killed Haylie, who was from District 8 with Janhem, without a second glance. Now it seems like I owe Haylie this. Not just for Haylie, but for Yuri, my mother, and even Malli.<p>

"I'm not going to just leave you, Janhem."

"You know my name? Well that makes me feel bad. I didn't pay attention enough to figure out yours."

Come to think of it, I knew most of the names of the tributes. A few slipped my mind, but most I could easily remember.

"I'm Mockingjay," is all I manage to get out. This reminds me too much of the deaths that already happened.

"So why aren't you leaving me to die?" Janhem asks.

"Because if I was dying, I would say for people to leave me. For them to leave me alone so I can just die. But under that, I wouldn't want to be alone. To have no one to be there and comfort you as you drift away... I think it'd be more scary to die alone than with someone there with you," I explain.

Janhem doesn't say anything. Her black eyes lock onto mine and she nods. Then her eyes close and I sit there next to her and hold tight onto her hand. Slowly the pressure in the hold she had on my hand as well loosens. I never really said it, but I'm not going to leave until her cannon goes off. So that's what I do.

Then, fifteen minutes later, her cannon goes off, announcing her death. I let go of her hand and start walking back to the cornucopia. It's dark now. The anthem is about to play right when I get back to the cornucopia. I climb into the horn as the anthem started to go off and watched as the dead tributes list went off. In order it's, Amalia, Janhem, and then Rulia. Then the seal goes back up and I decide to eat some dried beef before I went to sleep. I hadn't really had the chance to eat anything all day.

I ate ten pieces since there was plenty more here in the cornucopia. Before I could settle down into bed, one of the head Gamemaker's voice appears.  
>"Congradulations to all the tributes for making it to the final twelve! Out of the fifty nine orginal tributes, you twelve have proven to have the skill to have made it this far!"<p>

This excites me. But then I remember that it might just be a feast or some kind of saying. But they way he is talking it seems that we might all win. Of course I dismiss that thought the second I get it. It's a rediculous thought completely. They'd never let twelve tributes go home. This Quarter Quell has provided plenty of fun for the audiance. No doubt that Ever, Dragon, and Metalliana have made the crowd fall in love with them. I've probably gotten some attention with the incident in the tree, Mallium, taking over the cornucopia, and also Janhem's death. Which makes me wonder. Where are the others? Am I missing anything by not being in the jungle?

"Also tributes, we have a surprise for all of you! Since the arena has proven that getting you all together will be more than difficult. Any tribute not in the jungle will have to rush there in a few short minutes. Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favor!"

What? What did he mean by we'll have to rush there in a few short minutes? Well, knowing how the Gamemakers don't lie, I'll have to work fast. I get my supplies together. Grab an extra pack. Neither of them are too heavy so I can easily run with both, if need be. By the time I'm getting a good supply of weapons and food into the packs and a sleeping bag in one, I begin to see what the head Gamemaker meant. About a mile from me is a grass fire. My eyes grow wide looking at this. Forget the fancy weapons, I throw some knives into a pack, grab a spear, and start running for my life. The jungle isn't that far from here. Only two and half miles at most. Still, trying to get there before the flames catch up with me is more difficult than I believed.

I'm only about half a mile to the jungle when the smoke from the flames chokes me. Luckily, I get to the jungle right before I collapse. I start blacking out, but right before I completely lose conciousness, a cannon goes off. My last thought is who is it.

* * *

><p>By the time I wake up, it's at least midmorning. Surprisingly, while I was passed out, no other tributes found me. Which reminds me that there was a cannon blast before I blacked out. Were there anymore? There must have been another with that fire spreading throughout the grass areas so fast. I barely had any time to make it two and a half miles.<p>

Well I'd see who died tonight, but right now I had to figure out a new strategy. Since, obviously, the Gamemakers just destroyed the cornucopia and everything else outside of the jungle, my only option was to stay here. Going back would be completely pointless. I'm standing at the edge of jungle and all I see on the other side is a baren wasteland. Whatever I left at the cornucopia was long gone by now.

I knew I had to get moving. The other tributes would definetly be on the move now to find others. After all this chaos, I didn't want to run for my life again. So I was on the move again. Another one of my plans completely ruined by Gamemakers. There was no way around it, I had to stop planning things out. They'd never go right and obviously the Gamemakers would never let it. Now, all I could do was wait out all the other tributes and hopefully the last one left, wouldn't be one of the horrible three or a tribute from my district.

The jungle wasn't that different from a forest, except I couldn't place any tree that was here. I walked quietly, waiting for the sun to go down. Once it started to, I'd climb up into a low tree and sleep. With a few tributes in such a small arena now, I had to be careful.

I was very jumpy now. Almost every sound made me lift my spear up into throwing position. Every time it was only a bird or one of the pig looking beasts that ran quickly away from me. Each time, though, I began to worry more and more if there was a tribute close by waiting for an opening. The more worried I got, the more my senses suffered. Panic is only good for when you are running away. It gets a good amount of adrenaline into your system, but when trying to sneak around and be hidden, it's not good.

By the time the sun had gone down, I hadn't eaten anything and my stomach was hurting badly. Being in the arena, I had plenty of food and didn't have to really share it except when I had Mallium with me. Now that I was alone, everything I caught was my own. It would have been nice to have someone as an ally, just so I wouldn't feel so lonely now. The only thing I could do was try to get through the day and think more. When Mallium had been alive, though, all I thought about was keeping her safe and trying to make sure we both ate. It was sad I only spent a few days with her. I wish I had known her better in District 11, but at the same time I'm glad I didn't because I would have reacted worse to her death.

Night was slowly closing in and eventually I heard the anthem play and looked up to see who had died during the fire or while I was asleep. The first tribute to show up on the screen is Xandria, then Ulli, and then finally Rose. So that puts us down to nine tributes left to play the Capitol's evil game.


End file.
